'Come back early' advice to Preston North End players in Spain

On Saturday, the Government issued new advice that anyone who had visited Spain, including the Canaries and Balearic Islands, had to quarantine for 14 days on their return.

North End are due back in pre-season training on August 13, hence a return by Wednesday would allow the holidaying players to adhere to the quarantine rules and be available for the start of the build-up to the 2020/21 campaign.

The club had given the players permission to go holiday in their shortened summer break and advised them to stick to countries where there was an air bridge in place and no need to quarantine.

That permission was granted at a time when holiday makers and travellers returning from Spain were not on the quarantine list.

It was at short notice on Saturday at the Government changed that rule with regards to Spain, following a spike there in cases of Covid-19.

North End's pre-season will last just over four weeks before the season starts on September 12.

It is shorter than normal, however the break between the end of the elongated 2019/20 season and the return to training will only have been three weeks.

There will be pre-season friendly matches in the schedule, all behind closed doors, with the first few games of the season also to be played in empty stadiums.

Fans are likely to to be allowed to return from October 1, although all grounds are set to operate at reduced capacity to allow for social distancing.