Tottenham Hotspur forward Son Heung-min has begun a three-week period of mandatory military service in his native South Korea while the Premier League season is suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic, local news agency Yonhap has reported.
Son, who returned to South Korea from London at the end of March, completed two weeks of quarantine and reported to a Marine Corps unit on the island of Jeju earlier on Monday, where he will remain until 8 May, the report said.
The 27-year-old will be exposed to tear gas, go on hikes and receive weapons training during his stint with the marines and is expected to return to London by the end of May, it added.
Able-bodied Tottenham and South Korean men must serve about two years in the armed forces, but Son earned an exemption for leading the country to gold at the 2018 Asian Games.
Under the terms of the exemption, he needs to complete basic training and 544 hours of community service over the next 34 months while he remains a professional athlete.
The Premier League season has been suspended since 13 March with Tottenham in eighth place.
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Anaedoonline.com reported that the English Premier League (EPL) may return to action in early June 2020, according to Mirror UK.
It no longer looks likely that the season will be scrapped and declared void. However, there is still plenty to sort out before it can resume.
This was the discussion when representatives from the league met on Friday in one of their regular meetings with the government to discuss a restart once the national lockdown is lifted.
Clubs in the top flight are ready to install COVID-19 testing machines as they step up preparations to return.
The testing machines will be used at training grounds daily to check the health of players. Many Premier League teams are expecting to be back in training next month.
Some clubs have informed their players to prepare for a mid-May return, with a mini ‘two or three week’ pre-season to get back up to speed.
The league management is looking at cramming all remaining fixtures into a five-week period, starting as early as June.
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The newspaper further reported that the most likely scenario is to play games behind closed doors, with Sky and BT Sports airing all games live.
Supporters may not be allowed into stadiums for the rest of the year.
Their next meeting comes up on Friday, April 17 and they will hope to further discuss a return there.
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