Leeds United have told several members of their first-team squad to stay away from the club's Thorp Arp training ground following recent media speculation, a report from Leeds Live has claimed.

It was reported by Football Insider that several members of Leeds' squad had been at the club's training ground to be put through their paces on Friday and Saturday, despite social distancing rules introduced to combat the global Coronavirus outbreak, and the fact that Football League teams have been told not to return to training until the 16th May.

According to the latest reports however, none of those players were at the training ground at the same time, with Liam Cooper, Stuart Dallas, Ezgjan Alioksi and Gaetano Berardi all said to have separately used the running track at the Thorp Arch facility.

The report states that the four players have all been forced to use the track as a result of difficulties running at home, due to the need to maintain fitness during the current suspension of the football season.

However, the quartet have now reportedly been told not to return to the training ground for the foreseeable future, in order to avoid the threat of any further media scrutiny.

As well as Cooper, Dallas, Alioski and Berardi, fellow first-team players Jean-Kevin Augustin, Adam Forshaw and Leif Davis have all also been at the club's training ground recently as they continue their rehabilitation from injury.

The Verdict

This is a sensible decision from Leeds.

With the emphasis that is being placed on social distancing in the current situation at the minute, continuing to have players at the training ground for the time being would not have reflected well on the club, and could have even led to some repercussions for them, given the advuce they appeared to be ignoring here.

Indeed, with the risk posed by what is going on at the minute, continuing with this approach could have also posed some problems in terms of health at Leeds going forward, as well as the issues that could be presented by this from a logistical perspective.