London, May 28: Watford captain Troy Deeney, who admitted that he was hurt emotionally after his family suffered personal and online abuse following his decision not to return to training initially, is now expected to hit the straps after holding positive talks with health officials.

The 31-year-old striker detailed the significant abuse he had received after initially opting not to train when clubs were permitted to resume non-contact sessions.

Deeney had concerns over the health of his son – who has breathing difficulties – and statistics that showed BAME people were more at risk from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Premier League: Watford captain Troy Deeney refuses return to training

He is now poised to join his team-mates when Watford train next week after the approval of contact training, having held discussions with Dr Jonathan Van-Tam, the Government's deputy chief medical officer, and the Premier League.

"I only said that I wasn't going back for the first week," Deeney was quoted as saying by CNN. "People took that as I'll never go back.

"Jonathan is doing really well, not only answering questions, he has also been honest enough to say at times: 'I don't have the answer'.

"He's been doing very good research and there's a lot of goodwill on his part to tell me, ultimately, that I'm going to be looked after as best as they can. Ultimately, there's going to be some form of risk for all of us going back to work. Lockdown ending and the social distancing measures coming down mean people will still always have risk."

Stage one complete pic.twitter.com/JqA4B4WX3c

— Watford Football Club (@WatfordFC) May 27, 2020

Deeney said some of his meetings with the Premier League were "productive", while others were "heated".

"There's some frustrating conversations. When somebody said I'm at the same risk of getting coronavirus by playing football or going to the supermarket, I said: 'I've never had to jump for a header while picking up a cucumber'."

Online abuse

While the issue over his training dilemma appears to be solved, Deeney was unhappy with abuse he received, particularly that which targeted his son.

He added: "I saw some comments in regards to my son, people saying: 'I hope your son gets coronavirus'.

"That's the hard part for me. If you respond to that, people then go: 'Ah, we've got him' and they keep doing it.

"In a time where it's all about mental health and everyone says: 'Speak up, speak out,' Danny Rose spoke out – and I spoke out and we just get absolutely hammered and battered for it.

"The missus gets direct messages and you'll be walking down the street and people will be like: 'Oh, I'm at work, you go back to work’."

(With inputs from Agencies)