We need to talk about injuries. We're barely a third of the way through the season – and players are doing hamstrings, ACLs and other body parts left, right and centre.
In the Premier League, hamstring injuries alone are up nearly 100% compared to the same stage of the 2022/23 campaign – and their occurrence is significantly higher than at any point in each of the past four seasons.
Here at FourFourTwo, we thought we better have a little look into what on earth is going on...
Well, we reckon there's an obvious answer: there are simply too many games, with competitions like the Nations League adding to the already congested calendar – and that's only going to get worse when the number of Champions League matches increases next term.
But we think there's something else at play, the physical impact of which on players hasn't really been considered: VAR.
The real reason SO MANY footballers are getting injured this season
In any case, the current mountain of injuries is clearly a big problem – especially when a teenage prodigy like Barcelona and Spain's Gavi is being pushed to the point of tearing his ACL – and football needs to get its act together to sort it out.
And it might take drastic action on the players' part, with Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola even suggesting that they might need to go on strike just to reduce their intense workload.
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