Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola should take any complaints about playing time and overload to his club and not the likes of FIFA and UEFA.
That’s according to journalist Juanma Castaño, who is having none of the Spaniard’s complaints about playing time and recent injuries on international duty.
This international break has already seen a spate of high-profile names ruled out through injury, with Barcelona’s Gavi the latest to suffer a big injury and be left on the sidelines for months.
There’s a growing concern over the number of problems being picked up by players, with the belief that an ever-extending football calendar is leading to overload and putting players at risk.
That’s certainly a belief that Guardiola holds, with the Manchester City manager this week coming out and complaining about the situation and calling for change.
He’s suffered from big injuries already this season, with Kevin de Bruyne a notable absence since the start of the season and Zach Steffen, Sergio Gomez and even Erling Haaland also currently on the treatment table.
Castaño doesn’t believe any complaints from him hold up, though, and instead urged Guardiola to speak to those above him at Manchester City first.
“Of course, the calendar is outrageous, crazy, but FIFA can also say, but what are you talking about?” he said.
“Always in pre-season, instead of going to a cool place, like in the old days, Denmark, Switzerland, Holland? Doing a proper pre-season, playing against third divisions to get the ball rolling until the medium-sized trophies came along and then the season started…
“If you go around the world with the players, if they don’t train, if you don’t do anything and play the top-level game from the start, then we go and complain to FIFA, that’s all we need”.
“But to Guardiola, in this complaint that we have heard and which I totally agree with, you have to say, the first person you have to complain to is the owner of City.
“Tell him: hey, I don’t want to go here, I don’t want to go to the other side of the world, I don’t want to go and do this pre-season and play against Real Madrid, against Liverpool and against Chelsea.”
