MARCUS RASHFORD’S hopes of leading Manchester United back to the glory era craved by the Old Trafford fans is ALREADY under threat – because he could be on the way to burn-out.
That was the stark warning from PFA chief executive Maheta Molongo, who says football’s rulers MUST listen to the concerns of Rashford’s club-mate Raphael Varane.
Players like Marcus Rashford are at risk of burnout claims PFA chief Maheta Molongo
Raphael Varane spoke out against football chiefs following rule changes that will see more minutes added to matches
The central defender turned his back on international football at the age of just 30 because of the sheer demands of playing for club and country.
Varane’s plea to the authorities to start listening to the players rather than dream up laws and more competitions and impose their ideas was the start of a dressing room backlash.
Prem games are almost certain routinely to extend beyond the 100-minute mark after the International FA Board agreed to roll out 2022 World Cup-style timekeeping globally.
And Molonga pointed to United golden boy Rashford as a potential victim of football’s apparent refusal to even recognise that the stars of the show are the most vulnerable by the demands for more, more, more.
Molonga said: “If we are adding these extra minutes to every match, then by Christmas you have played five more games on top of the 70 you already play.
“The data shows that it’s not just perception – it is facts.
“Marcus Rashford has played twice as many minutes as Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard at the same age.
“It’s not that we’re speculating, it’s a fact. It’s our role to see the bigger picture.
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“Yes, it’s very nice in the short term.
“But I want to see Rashford run with the ball for 10 years, 15 years. Not doing it for just six or seven.”
The PFA boss hinted that, unless the players are properly consulted, they may start taking action.
Whether that is strike action is less clear, but Molonga added: “It’s not us as a union saying do this or that. The players themselves are saying ‘let’s do something’.
“We are not just talking about Raphael Varane. It’s a lot of players. And even the managers will tell you the same.
“Varane has decided to stop playing for the national team. This would never have happened 20 years ago, with someone who would have been the next captain of France, who has said ‘I’m not going to play’.
“People then say ‘let’s talk about the sleeping pills the players take’ but this is a result of that.
“If I play an international game on the Thursday in Bolivia and then I play at Birmingham on Saturday, how do I do that?
“I need to travel for 24 hours, get some sleep somehow and then play on the Saturday.
“If I do that in the executive lounge I’m knackered. Imagine if you have to turn up and play 90 minutes.
“Time wasting and certain other behaviour had to be dealt with and the players are conscious of that.
“But maybe not this way. Let’s not talk about just time wasting but the bigger, wider context.
“I don’t think a measure that was applied for a tournament that lasts for a month cannot just be extrapolated immediately to an entire season.
“We need to reflect on how we got to this point and ask if we have taken the appropriate steps to ensure that we didn’t get here?
“That’s why we said we need to have these discussions with the authorities.
“Hopefully, then, you can draw positive lessons to the importance of involving people out there on the ground day to day and who are suffering themselves before you make a decision.”
