Fifpro president David Terrier has slammed Chelsea’s decision to leave Cole Palmer out of their squad for the league phase of the Europa Conference League, and labelled it “crazy.”
The Blues are potentially facing a season of over 70 games with the newly revamped Club World Cup taking place next summer and are seemingly taking a number of decisions to manager their players accordingly.
Having got past Swiss side Servette, Chelsea advanced to the league phase of the competition where they will face the likes of Gent, Noah, Panathinaikos and Shamrock Rovers.
Fifpro president unhappy with Palmer omission
Chelsea announced their squad for the league phase of the competition earlier this week and there were three notable omissions in Palmer, Romeo Lavia and Wesley Fofana.
The reason given for the omissions was “load management” with the Blues facing possibly the longest season in their history.
Palmer has already withdrawn from the England squad with muscle fatigue and has reportedly been struggling at the start of this season.
However, Terrier a former West Ham defender and now president of the largest player’s union has labelled Chelsea’s decision as crazy.
“It’s unbelievable. I didn’t understand why Chelsea would leave one of their best players out of this tournament,” he told The Sun.
“It’s crazy. But football is getting more crazy every day, whether that is with the calendar, the transfer system or the workload on players.
“The fans want to see the best players on the pitch. The people who pay to watch football on TV deserve to see the best players.
“Cole Palmer is a top player. I want to see him playing in every game for Chelsea. If not then the spectacle of football is diminished.
“It is disrespectful to football that clubs are now having to manage the loads for players like him.”
It’s worth adding that Chelsea can make three changes to the squad for the knockout phases should they get there so it’s likely Palmer, Lavia and Fofana will all play a part in the latter stages.