Cole was speaking on a range of current topics with Paddy Power when he was asked if Chelsea‘s poor disciplinary record could be attributed to their exploits in this summer’s Club World Cup. The player-turned-pundit did not connect those dots, but he did give an impassioned rant on the excessive workload of the modern player. Something he feels is worsening the overall product.
“I think the situation with Chelsea’s ill-discipline was just bad decision making at times in games which can happen. Injuries though, yeah 100%,” said Cole.
“I think if you look at PSG, I watched their game the other night and they had 5 or 6, starters out [injured] against Barcelona. They still won, but Manchester City have had players injured, Chelsea have. So absolutely 100%.
“Some fans might listen to this, players playing too much, getting injured, and go ‘Yeah, but you get paid a lot of money.’ And yes from that framework, players do get paid a lot of money to play. But what I’m saying is, you go to watch these Champions League, Premier League games because you want to see something you can’t see on the parks at the weekend. You want to see the best of the best playing. When you play players like this – keep flogging them – their levels come down because that’s normal. So, the fans are not getting the best product because it’s saturated.
“Then you lose players – Rodri springs to mind – done his knee, missed him for a year. Will Rodri be the same Rodri ever again? That’s a Ballon d’Or winner. You’re not getting the best players, you’re just flogging it, and it’s done for financial reasons, nothing else. I think football should be treated as sacred. It should be something where it’s not just flog the horse to make money. It’s ride the horse at the right time. Bring it together – brilliant games, beautiful games, the best should be playing the best.
“The PSG game – five players missing, for instance against Barcelona. If that’s the final and 50% of the best team in the world [PSG] are missing because of injuries, it’s a direct correlation between overplay and injury. It’s too simple to say, ‘they’re footballers, they get paid to play’. Footballers will play, but we want the best. You want to see the best version of [Ousmane] Dembele, the best [Lamine] Yamal. You don’t want to see players playing at 50, 60, 70%. You want to see them at their best because we love football.”
As Cole alluded to, the European champions were undermanned when they made trip to Barcelona last week. Les Parisiens were without their first choice front three as Ballon d’Or winner Dembele, Desire Doue and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia were unable to travel due to injury. During the warm-up, Joao Neves pulled up, leaving Warren Zaire-Emery to replace him as a last-minute stand-in. It’s a testament to PSG’s remarkable depth that they still managed an impressive 2-1 away win in Catalunya despite their injury problems.
Meanwhile, Chelsea, the club that beat the French giants in the final of the Club World Cup, have five central defenders currently unavailable for selection and are without their talismanCole Palmer, who is nursing an ongoing soft tissue injury in his groin.
The Club World Cup final was played on July 13, exactly one month before PSG’s 2025-26 season would start in earnest with their UEFA Super Cup tilt against Tottenham. Chelsea’s Premier League campaign started just four days later.
Rodri’s ongoing battle with for fitness took another crushing turn, as the midfield maestro pulled up with a hamstring pull during Manchester City’s 1-0 win away to Brentford on Sunday. The 2024 Ballon d’Or winner was finally regaining his fitness after his surgery to repair a torn ACL sustained in a Premier League clash with Arsenal in September 2024. The 29-year-old has been withdrawn from Spain’s squad for their upcoming World Cup qualifiers.
Cole’s assessment of the increased risk to players’ welfare in the face of expanding playing schedule is undoubtedly correct, however, with the appetite for the game growing across the globe, it’s unlikely his warning will be heeded by the powers-that-be.
