Tuesday, February 8, 2022 at 12:50 PM• Jordi Tomasowa • Last update: 13:07

AZ has not been able to keep the corona virus out during the winter training camp in Valencia, it knows Noordhollands Dagblad According to the newspaper, at least one player tested positive that week, although AZ maintained that no player had contracted a corona infection.

In preparation for the second half of the season, AZ flew to Valencia at the beginning of January for a training camp. Due to corona infections, PEC Zwolle remained in the Netherlands, while Feyenoord and PSV canceled their training camp to Spain as a precaution. AZ therefore chose to fly to Valencia and justified the choice afterwards by pointing out that there were no positive corona cases within the selection.

It Noordhollands Dagblad reports, however, that Bruno Martins did test positive for the corona virus during the training camp and therefore had to be in isolation. As an explanation for the absence of the thirty-year-old defender, AZ gave the reason that Martins Indi was recovering from the toe surgery he underwent during the winter break.

Ajax was heavily criticized for their planned training camp in the Algarve. The club decided to immediately abort the training camp in Portugal after two days, due to four corona infections within the selection and staff. The four infected persons were placed separately from the group and thus also traveled back to the Netherlands against the rules.

According to the Noordhollands Dagblad AZ may not have wanted to receive the same criticism as Ajax. Unlike the team from Amsterdam, AZ chose to have Martins Indi spend his quarantine period in Spain, while the rest of the selection went back to the Netherlands on January 8.