Despite coming in contact with people who were later found to be infected, William Troost-Ekong counts himself fortunate to have been free of the COVID-19.
The Udinese defender spent 28 days in isolation, and he's delighted to have emerged with the medical report that he, his family, and team members at the club are coronavirus-negative.
Troost-Ekong was one of the best players on March 8 when the White-and-Blacks played a 0-0 draw against Fiorentina. The game was played behind closed doors as Italy was grappling with surging cases of COVID-19 victims.
Unknown to those at Udine, some Fiorentina players and members of staff were already infected with the highly contagious virus when the two teams clashed a month ago.
Troost-Ekong was not even aware of the development until he was on his way to honour an invitation to feature for the Super Eagles against Sierra Leone – an AFCON-qualifying tie that was later postponed due also to the pandemic.
The former Bursaspor defender was immediately sent into isolation and placed under close monitoring together with his Udinese teammates.
Fortunately, though, none of them was found to be infected, and the 26-year-old centre-back couldn't help but feel lucky at the whole episode.
“I was in England because I was on my way to the national team when I was told they had the coronavirus at Fiorentina – the team we (Udinese) played with,” said Troost-Ekong, as quoted by Fox Sports.
“At Fiorentina, four players had it and people on the staff, none with us. We were lucky that nobody had anything.”
