Multiple footballers have spoken out recently about the weight of games simply being too heavy. The football calendar has grown over the past decade, and it’s not been to the pleasing of everyone.
There’s even been talk of a potential strike among top players if their concerns aren’t addressed and the number of games isn’t reduced.
Mikel Merino has given an interview to Spanish newspaper El Mundo, and part of the interesting chat turned to the potential strike.
The Arsenal midfielder was asked for his views on the situation, and he talked down the calls for a strike, clearly believing that would be taking things too far at this stage.
El Mundo quote him as saying: “We have to think about it. Strikes, in our sector, are something socially controversial. And many people may say: how can you threaten to go on strike if you are a footballer!
“It is true that it must be studied. It is not a question of putting a strike on the table either. Perhaps it would be better to start by meeting and talking with the football establishments to see how to continue moving forward. Right now the problem is being put on the table, and now we will see if it is possible to resolve it. But what is certain is that there must be a consensus between FIFA, UEFA and players.”
The elephant in the room on this topic is player wages. Agents continually demand higher amounts for their clients, salaries make up a financially unhealthy cost percentage for most clubs, and top players are continually breaking records when it comes to sponsorships.
Should there be less football then it would follow that there’d be less money. El Mundo asked Merino if he’d be prepared to ‘earn less to play fewer games and thus preserve your health’.
The Arsenal player responded: “I think that health comes first, and we all want to reach 55-60 years old being able to go out running with our children, to be able to play and bend down to play with them.
“My father, for example, who was a footballer, when I was a child and I wanted to play with him anything, he couldn’t because his knee was in tatters. I wouldn’t want that to happen to me. And as for money, well, we’re not going to complain about earning a little less or a little more, health being the first thing.”
Ángel Merino, Mikel’s father, played professional football from 1986 until 2003, with 497 games over that 17 year period.
On whether the situation, and seeing colleagues pick up serious injuries, has made him more fearful of picking up an issue himself, the Arsenal player dismissed the idea: “No. The more you think about injuries, the more chances you have of getting injured. You have to take care of yourself, eat, etc… But then there’s a luck factor.”
