Rodri injury cautionary tale amid calls for change in player workload

MANCHESTER, England : A week after Rodri warned of strike action over increasing workload, the Manchester City midfielder is facing a long injury layoff - a cruel twist of fate that has further fuelled the debate around player wellbeing amid an intense schedule.

Former players and managers such as Thierry Henry, Jamie Carragher, Pep Guardiola and Erik ten Hag also recently joined the growing chorus calling for change.

Former Arsenal forward Henry said players have lost their joy of the game, while Liverpool's former defender Carragher said they are treated like cattle.

The power of players to do anything about it is being eroded, said Mark O'Sullivan, associate professor of football at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences.

"The whole game is subverted and it's just been aimed at consumers by FIFA and UEFA, squeezing the last few drops out of the globalised lemon, and they're degrading the welfare of players," O'Sullivan told Reuters in an interview.

"There's lots of serious questions around the erosion of player agency and the long-term impact of players being forced to prioritize short-term performance over long-term well being."

The 28-year-old Rodri, who suffered a knee ligament injury in City's 2-2 Premier League draw with Arsenal on Sunday, had said the optimal number of games per season in which a player can perform at the highest level was between 40 and 50.

This season some players could play as many as 80 with the expanded Champions League and FIFA Club World Cup formats, alongside enlarged national team competitions.

The United States will host the first edition of FIFA's new 32-team Club World Cup from June 15-July 13 next year.

"Nobody wants to play in it, nobody is excited about it," former England international