England star Jack Grealish has said that he is ‘baffled’ by the self-isolation period enforced upon Mason Mount and Ben Chilwell following close contact with Scotland’s Billy Gilmour, despite no Scottish players being made to isolate.
Gilmour tested positive for COVID-19 in the wake of the 0-0 draw at Wembley and concerns over Mount and Chilwell became apparent after they had been conversing with their Chelsea clubmate for an extended period in the tunnel after the game.
The whole of the England squad, including Mount and Chilwell, returned negative tests after the game. But following advice on COVID-19 protocols from Public Health England and the FA, the controversial decision was made for the pair to isolate until 28 June.
They will train individually in ‘private areas’ of England’s base until then, with the period of isolation ending the day before England’s first knockout game, having already ruled both out of the third and final group game against Czech Republic at Wembley.
Gimour was the only Scottish player to return a positive test. But there were images of the young midfielder in close contact with teammates and coach Steve Clarke during and after the game. Andrew Robertson also deleted a video that had been uploaded to social media in which he and others were seen playing table tennis with Gilmour.
“It's crazy how we have no players in our squad with COVID and have two players isolating and Scotland have one [with COVID] and none isolating,” Grealish said. “It baffles me.”
England were clearly keen to take no chances after beating Czech Republic on Tuesday night. Declan Rice was seen conversing with West Ham clubmate Tomas Soucek after the final whistle and a Wembley official was quickly on hand to give both players a mask.
The next England match will be a last 16 tie against one of France, Portugal, Germany or Hungary, which finishes as runner-up in Group F, at Wembley on 29 June.
For more from Jamie Spencer, follow him on Twitter and Facebook!
Source : 90min