Today’s back pages: Premier League goes into extra time and king Eric Cantona may return to Man Utd

Premier League will finish season

The dominant story on today’s back pages is the bullish message from the football authorities that the Premier League season will be finished no matter what.

“We’ll win it in extra time”, is the headline in the Daily Mirror, above a photo of Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, and the German also adorns the back of the Daily Express and the Daily Star.

The Star’s headline is “we’ll get the job done”, and the paper adds that the Premier League “vows to finish the season when the outbreak is over”.

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The Guardian digs down into the detail of yesterday’s Premier League summit, confirming the determination to finish the season but warning that football won’t resume before at least 30 April.

Initially all football had been suspended until April 3 but that resumption has been pushed back to the end of the month.

The Times reports that the Football Association’s usual limit of 1 June for the end of the season has been extended to allow the domestic competitions to be finished.

That’s prompted the “summer season” headline in Metro in anticipation of watching the climax to the Premier League in the warmth of the June sunshine.

English football suspended until 30 April - but the season is extended indefinitely

Coronavirus: sport industry faces wage cuts, bailouts and financial ruin

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Return of king Eric?

The Daily Mirror has a story on its back page that will be a shot in the arm for Manchester United fans in these worrying times; namely, the claim that Eric Cantona could be set for a return to Old Trafford.

The French maestro, known as “the king” during his days at the club in the 1990s, could be hired in what the Mirror describes as an “ambassadorial role”.

The 53-year-old remains a legend in Manchester and the United board believe that having Cantona around Old Trafford would be a “major vote winner for the current club hierarchy as they stay in touch with the glorious past”.

RIP Whitts

The Times and Metro report on the death of former Cardiff City midfielder Peter Whittingham at the age of 35.

The playmaker, who also had spells with Aston Villa and Blackburn Rovers, had been in hospital for more than a week after suffering a head injury in a fall in a pub in Barry.

Whittingham, who was capped by England Under-21s, joined Cardiff in 2007 and made 459 appearances and scored 98 goals before leaving in 2017.

“We are heartbroken,” Cardiff said in a statement. “He excelled with talent, ease, grace and humility. Nobody did it better.”

Today’s sport headlines

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