Son joins the list of players protesting against excessive games

Tottenham captain Son Heung-min has become the latest to speak publicly about the intense workload over the number of games players are demanded to play.

He said it would cause a “massive” risk for clubs and players as the possibilities of injuries would increase in trying to meet the demands.

After Manchester City midfielder Rodri voiced his frustration last week regarding the player’s concern, ironically he suffered knee ligament damage, 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 travelling. 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.”

The Spanish midfielder has ruptured a ligament in his right knee during City’s Premier League game against Arsenal on Sunday. Medical reports suggest, his time frame is unknown, and could miss the rest of the season.

Son stands with Rodri’s concerns.

“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.

City manager Pep Guardiola said last week that only players can drive change in football’s ongoing debate over the congested match calendar.

This season’s Champions League expansion has only sparked the issue, by including two extra games in the revised group stage. Additionally, next year’s Club World Cup in the U.S.A. has increased the teams from seven to 32 similar to the International tournament, during the June-July off-season. All these factors have piled up causing the Players’ unions to launch an immediate legal action against the new Club World Cup format.

Moreover, Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou also suggested players should join hands if they want to see change.

“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.”

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