Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk was given short shrift by Alan Shearer following his recent comments about modern elite footballers playing too many games.
The 32-year-old spoke out about the workload being piled on players at the highest level due to the expansion and creation of tournaments for both club and country, urging his fellow professionals to ‘contribute to a solution’ towards redressing the balance (The Mirror).
However, the Dutchman was shown no sympathy whatsoever by the BBC pundit, who argued that footballers in the current era have luxuries of which previous generations could only have dreamed.
When asked about Van Dijk’s comments, Shearer told The Rest Is Football podcast: “Nonsense. Nonsense. Players are playing too much football? What? I mean come on.
“I know you should never mention the money, but you’ve got bigger squads than ever, more substitutes than ever, getting paid more money than ever. You’ve got the best physios, the best technology, the best of everything. Do me a favour! Playing too much football? F***ing hell.”
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It’s disappointing to see Shearer so volubly condemn Van Dijk over a fair grievance from the Liverpool captain.
Players with international commitments whose clubs also compete in Europe can routinely rack up more than 60 matches per year, being expected to perform to a high level under intense scrutiny while having comparatively meagre downtime.
For instance, there were numerous members of Jurgen Klopp’s squad (including the skipper) who played beyond the middle of June for their countries and had just three weeks off before reporting for pre-season training.
Say all you want about the wages that high-level footballers enjoy; that also brings with it an enormous physical and indeed mental burden, with both being amplified by expanding international tournaments and by the creation of ridiculous oddities such as a full-blown Club World Cup from 2025.
If players are being flogged to their limits, how can we expect them to deliver 10/10 performances every few days or avoid injuries? There comes a point where someone has to shout stop, and it’s telling that the call is coming from an elite player in Van Dijk.
Football’s governing bodies must listen when a prominent figure like the Liverpool captain is calling for a sensible balance to be restored, before a line is crossed in terms of burnout and a footballer’s health is compromised.
It doesn’t help when someone like Shearer – a high-profile player himself just one generation ago – is so strongly rebuking him for making a very valid point.
I’ve been a Lpl fan all my life and I’m in my 70’s. Sorry VVD got to agree with Shearer. When you consider the types of pitches. The lack of nutritional advice ( half an orange at half time ) . A wet sponge if you were injured. C’mon too many matches. Get over yourself.
I don’t think the issue is the number of matches. Basically, if the players were required to they could play a match every day. The question what you would actually get in terms of quality.
Also, not 100% sure Shearer is in any place to comment on this as I don’t think he ever played in the Champions League, in fact not even sure he ever played in the UEFA Cup.