The Bundesliga will return in 10 days’ time after Chancellor Angela Merkel confirms plans to ease coronavirus control measures on Wednesday, according to reports.

The Daily Mail report that Merkel plans to ease measures to control coronavirus in a teleconference on Wednesday, opening up the Bundesliga to a return.

Large shops will reopen from May 11th, and the Bundesliga can resume matches under strict conditions without fans in stadiums. Germany are already taking steps back to normality, reopening hairdressers and so on.

There’s no mention of the 2. Bundesliga in the report, but we expect the same to apply to them. That means a return to action for Konstantinos Mavropanos and Jordi Osei-Tutu.

Unlike in England, German clubs were already preparing for the return of football by restarting squad training last month. The Premier League is obviously still a couple of steps behind at this stage.

Most of the top European leagues are looking to the Bundesliga now, though. If they only manage a couple of games before a coronavirus outbreak and a spike in German cases, that’s obviously going to end the season pretty quickly.

If things go well, expect other countries to follow suit. The Premier League and the UK government will certainly watch closely.

Arsenal are already back in individual training, but no squad training just yet. That’s the next step, but they need the government’s backing first. We’re expecting an update on Thursday after the government’s latest lockdown review.