MANCHESTER CITY MIDFIELDER Rodri has suggested players could strike over increasing fixture congestion.
City face a busy season ahead as they compete in the new-look Champions League and an expanded Club World Cup next summer.
A number of players – including City defender Manuel Akanji and Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker – have expressed concern about the additional workload facing elite players in recent days.
Euro 2024 winner Rodri, one of the leading contenders for this year’s Ballon d’Or award, agrees the issue is a major concern.
Asked if players could ever strike or refuse to play, the influential Spain international said at a press conference: “I think we are close to that. I think if you ask any player he will say the same.
“It is not the opinion of Rodri or whatever. I think it’s the general opinion of the players.
“And if it keeps this way, there will be a moment where we have no other option, I really think, but let’s see.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen but it’s something that worries us because we are the guys that suffer.”
Rodri was speaking ahead of City’s Champions League opener against Inter Milan at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday.
The match will be City’s first taste of the event’s new league phase – a 36-team competition in which all teams will play eight unique fixtures.
That is an increase of two on the old group stage, while teams finishing in positions nine to 24 will play an additional two-legged play-off tie.
That means City, having featured in the Community Shield in August, could potentially play 75 matches this season. Players featuring in international football could face even more.
Rodri, who made his first appearance of the season in Saturday’s defeat of Brentford, said: “From my experience between 40-50 is the amount of games in which a player can perform in the highest level.
“After that you drop because it is impossible to sustain the physical level.
“This year we can go to 70, maybe 80. I don’t know, it depends how far you go in the competitions.
“In my humble opinion I think it is too much. I think we have to take care of ourselves. Someone has to take care of ourselves because we are the main characters of this sport or business or whatever you want to call it.
“Not everything is money or marketing – it is also the quality of the show.
“When I am not tired I perform better and if the people want to see a better football, we need to rest.”
One player who looks to have benefited from a rest over the summer is City striker Erling Haaland, who has already scored nine goals after just four Premier League games.
Rodri feels the Norwegian’s form illustrates his point.
He said: “Maybe he is a good example. He had a long break because his country didn’t qualify for the Euros.
“You see you how he is performing right now and he is turning into that beast we saw in the early days.”
City’s clash with Inter is a repeat of the 2023 final, in which Rodri scored the winning goal.
He said: “We were watching the game yesterday because they haven’t changed much and it was great to see.
“It was a great time but now life goes on. They are tough to beat and we will need our best performance.”
Yeah tough life. Two matches a week and only earn 200/300K per week. Modern day slavery
@Oliver Curley: Doesn’t matter how much you earn, everyone has physical limits and they just disappear because of high salary. I would have thought you’d know that after Christian Eriksen collapsing. Or was the sympathy people expressed for him just an act and not genuine because he was a high earner?
@Conor Lynott: your right it not what people earn but maybe players should start telling their manager or club ex’s about burn out. Think it was Newcastle who straight after the end of the season flew out for a Mickey Mouse friendly. Managers not using squad players enough. When Utd were going strong( fado fado) Ferguson would use the League cup to blood youth players and bring players who were out injured back to fitness. Pep/klopp bar one or two changes played their full strength teams in league cup. And I purposefully left out ETH playing strong teams in league cup as he needed a trophy.
@Oliver Curley:Your 100% right they earn way to much money but earning 200/300k per week doesnt stop you tearing muscles or ligaments because you didnt have enough recovery time. If you play 7 games in 21 days its going to catch up with you at some stage no matter how fit you are. Then you get people coming on here complaining that such and such didnt perform to the highest level.
@Cormac: Klopp/Pep never played” his full strength team bar one or two changes” unless it was a semi or a final. Club ex’s are not going to listen to players beecause they are commodities and Ferguson played youngsters in cup games because he wanted to get knocked out.
@Oliver Curley: American footballers get roughly half the year off and earn a lot more money than soccer players. Why dont rugby players go out and bash the heads off one another 2/3 times a week. Maybe they should play URC midweek and play the six nations at the weekend.
@Oliver Curley: My heart bleeds for them
@ED: Was Mr Ed a horse or a donkey. Id say the latter.
@zoncolan: if rugby players were getting paid half of what these guys are getting paid they probably would. Think about it.
@Ray Ridge: Money isnt the reason they dont do it. Its called player welfare.
@zoncolan: Correct, hence why Rugby players don’t play midweek. Rugby is of car crash intensity, whereas the other is practically non contact now at this stage. Wonder would they be willing to take a pay cut for less of a workload? Like in the real world.
@Ray Ridge: Different sports ray. Completely different set of muscle groups. One is physical the other requires you to run a lot more.
@zoncolan: If they can’t run around for 90 minutes twice a week, then they really ought to hand back a few hundred grand every week.
@Ray Ridge: If rugby can claim to be a more physically strenuous sport or do more running than football players as you imply, How do you explain the likes of Fabrice Mumba and Christian Eriksen suffering near death experiences from cardiac arrest at professional level in the last 12 years and no equivalent incidents in rugby at professional level in the last 12 years?
@Conor Lynott: Not sure what point your trying to make, I know of at least 2 people who suffered cardiac arrest and both never broke sweat in their lives. Surely your not implying there’s a connection between running around and cardiac arrest.
@Ray Ridge: Running is healthy. Excessive running by endurance athletes is not. It can lead to plaque in the heart which is linked to heart failure. Which shows my point about physical limits. https://www.bswhealth.com/blog/much-running-bad-heart#:~:text=But%20endurance%20running%20has%20actually,men%20of%20the%20same%20age.
@Oliver Curley: ….its not about money….expecting elite player to play at elite fitness levels for that many games will break a player….
He won’t have to worry about that in the Championship!
Hard auld life too. He’ll be finished in another couple of years, money made. The rest of us will have to soldier on regardless until nearly 70.
@Ray Ridge: Why dont you go work Saturday and Sunday while your at it. You wont because its called mental fatigue.
@zoncolan: Worked plenty Saturdays and Sundays. These guys don’t know what hardship is.
@Ray Ridge: Id say you did alrite. So Dele Ali doesnt know what hardship is.
@Ray Ridge: Well said
@Shawn: Oh look its the we dont play friendlies only test matches brigade.
@zoncolan: s… up
Id take his place for that cash sure moaning kids
Simple rule. Teams playing in Europe have to field their u21 squad in Carabona Cup.
Lots of cash and still they moan
If Rodri needs a rest at City, then surely Pep can just replace him with another midfielder who is probably 10 times better than the main midfielder at 99.9% of other clubs, who can step in for him for a few games?
they play two matches a week. run on average about 10k per game. I run double that in a week and don’t get 300k for my troubles. boo hoo, jog on.
Burn out is going to happen. That FIFA Club World Cup in the summer is a joke. It’s not often players elite get a Summer off with Euros World cups now this. No need for it. If they keep going like it is I wonder how many of the European clubs will boycott the club world cup.