New Liverpool man Thiago Alcantara tests positive for coronavirus

Liverpool midfielder Thiago Alcantara is self-isolating after testing positive for coronavirus, the club confirmed on Tuesday.

Thiago, who joined Liverpool from Bayern Munich last month in a deal worth up to £25m, and impressed on his debut for the Premier League champions in a 2-0 win at Chelsea on September 20 was left out of the match that faced Arsenal on Monday.

His omission has now been explained the omission.

Liverpool shared a statement via the club’s official Twitter account: “Thiago Alcantara has tested positive for COVID-19 and is currently self-isolating according to the necessary guidelines.

“The club has, and will continue to follow, all protocols relating to COVID-19 and Thiago will remain in self-isolation for the required period of time.”

[Tweet “Thiago Alcantara has tested positive for COVID-19 and is currently self-isolating according to the necessary guidelines.”]

The Premier League had announced on Monday that 10 players or club staff members had returned positive results in the latest round of testing, the highest number since testing began.

• 10 positive results from latest Premier League coronavirus testing batch

But it is unclear whether Thiago was among the 10 who returned a positive test in that round of Premier League testing, which ran from Monday, September 21 to Sunday, September 27.

West Ham’s trio of David Moyes, Issa Diop, and Josh Cullen were already confirmed coronavirus cases since Tuesday, 22 September2020.

• Premier League: West Ham boss David Moyes, Issa Diop and Josh Cullen test positive to COVID-19

Liverpool first-team doctor Jim Moxon says: “It is the choice of each individual whether they reveal publicly the outcome of a COVID-19 test.

“We have followed all the protocols to the letter and Thiago is OK. He will be self-isolating now as per the guidelines and hopefully, he’ll be back with us soon.”