England's Nations League withdrawals expose workload crisis, says PFA chief

LONDON, Sept 29 :

Cole Palmer's withdrawal from England's Nations League squad is proof that football's overloaded calendar is driving elite players beyond their limits, Professional Footballers' Association Chief Executive Maheta Molango said on Tuesday.

Palmer, Marcus Rashford, Declan Rice, Kobbie Mainoo and Tino Livramento pulled out of England's squad ahead of the latest international window.

"When we in England see five players need to withdraw from a call-up, which is the single most proud moment that you have as a player to be called up for the national team, then you just ask yourself: what's wrong about the industry?" Molango told reporters at the Peak Performance & Health Summit in London.

The PFA and global players' union FIFPRO have repeatedly warned that the football calendar is unsustainable.

The growing number of withdrawals and injuries during the current Nations League window has added urgency to a long-running dispute between players' unions and competition organisers over the volume of games elite players are expected to play each season.

"When you see someone like Cole Palmer, who would have played four consecutive summers (had he played in this year's World Cup), then you wonder why he is missing?", Molango said.

"He's missing because he is a victim of the calendar, and I think that's something that needs to absolutely trigger the alarm bell."

Molango said England's withdrawal list was part of a wider pattern affecting the sport's biggest names, citing Nations League injuries to Germany's Kai Havertz, Dutch striker Brian Brobbey and France captain Kylian Mbappe.

"For those who think that it's only a matter in England, then look at Havertz, look at Brobbey, look at Mbappe," he said.

"Is it a football where the