Son Heung-min latest in growing voices against fixture pile-up as players continue to protest against the increasing games.
Son Heung-min is the most recent football celebrity to voice public complaints about the amount of games players are required to play.
The South Korean international claimed that given the demands made of them, players were at “massive” risk of getting hurt.
His remarks follow Rodri, a midfielder for Manchester City, who revealed last week that players were on the verge of going on strike. Rodri suffered injury to his knee ligaments a few days later.
“You don’t want to see players struggling with injuries. No one wants to see it,” Son said Wednesday. “A lot of games, a lot of traveling. We’ve got to look after ourselves, which sometimes is very hard.
“Mentally, physically, you’re not ready. Then going on to the pitch and then the risk of injury is massive. We’re not robots. Don’t get me wrong, we love playing football. That’s clear.”
“Rodri said the right things. We play 50, 60 games and not more than 70 games. When the fixtures come, the players have to play. There’s a lot going on,” he said.
In response to the mounting disagreement about the packed calendar, City manager Pep Guardiola stated last week that it was up to the players to demand a change in the game of football.
This season, there are two more games in the revamped group stage of the Champions League. The enlarged Club World Cup in the United States next year will feature 32 teams instead of only seven as it did previously. Many major baseball teams have scheduled it for June or July during their offseason.
Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou said players may make a stand.
“They may take things into their own hands. They’re the ones most affected to be honest. So you would understand if they started to think as a collective, how much are we going to have to continually not have a say in?” Postecoglou said. “I have spoken already about the fact we’re getting to a real dangerous level about what our expectations are around players. Instead of focusing on one or two tournaments, it’s about the calendar. That is more of an issue.”