What Solskjaer is telling his Man United players during COVID-19 crisis

Manchester United defender Axel Tuanzebe has explained that players and staff are always connected during this unprecedented lockdown period.

United players are currently working through their own individual training plans, which are of course limited given they cannot leave their homes.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be keen to ensure his players are keeping as sharp as possible in this uncertain time for football.

The Premier League has been suspended indefinitely and there is no indication as of yet when it will eventually return. But there have been some suggestions that games will be played in quick succession in a desperate effort to get the season finished before the beginning of the next campaign.

Tuanzebe, who is currently training six times a week with the help of his brother Dimitri, has revealed what Solskjaer has told him about maintaining his fitness.

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Tuanzebe told Manchester Evening News:

“The manager sent me a message that just said: ‘Stay training and keep working and, we don’t know when we’ll be back, so we don’t want any surprises, because there are talks and rumours of how many games. So just be healthy, stay fit and maintain good hygiene.

“The club has been very supportive and provided plans for training and nutrition to oversee this period and we do have group chats – FaceTimes, videos of us training. And we have our own Instagram page that we follow to sustain and keep up to date with what’s going on with the new training.

“We can reach each other, a bit of banter and stuff. So it’s good to have that camaraderie still going. We’re a close group, so the group chats are always flying every day. Everyone just chips in here and there, it’s more so now about training with a bit of competition, people putting in what they’ve been doing. So everyone’s chipping in and everyone’s getting involved, which is good.”

It seems unlikely that football will return before June at the earliest, given the speed at which the coronavirus is spreading.

There have been some suggestions that the games could be played behind closed doors, but football is made by the fans and players won’t be pleased playing in empty stadiums .

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