Jude Bellingham burnout fears as Real Madrid and England star warned career at risk over ‘absolutely obscene’ schedule

JUDE BELLINGHAM risks being burned out by his “obscene” playing schedule – according to the International Players Union.

England superstar Bellingham has been given a week off by Three Lions chief Gareth Southgate after lifting the Champions League for the first time at Wembley on Saturday.

Bellingham, who made a series of key defensive blocks as well as teeing up Vinicius Jr for Madrid’s killer second goal in the win over Dortmund, has already played 47 games in his inaugural season at the Bernabeu.

As a certain starter for Southgate at Euro 2024, the England boss is hoping he will play another SEVEN games over the next few weeks.

And number crunchers at the international players’ union FifPro are urging caution because of the sheer amount of football Bellingham already has under his belt.

Even before his 21st birthday next month, Bellingham has clocked up 18,571 first-team minutes.

By contrast, David Beckham had played just 3,929 minutes at the same age, Steven Gerrard 7,034, Michael Owen 11,719 and Wayne Rooney, who made his prem debut at 16, 15,481.

Darren Burgess, formerly Arsenal’s head of elite performance, who unveiled the statistics at FifPro’s Player Workload and Recovery summit in London, said: “Young players’ careers are at risk because of the amount of football they are expected to play.

“If you look at those Bellingham numbers, the strain on him is absolutely obscene.”

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FifPro’s figures showed that Tottenham’s Argentine defender Cristian Romero travelled an astonishing 81,000 international air miles this season – more than three times around the world – and that was without Spurs playing in Europe.

Skipper Son Heung-min was back in action for Ange Postecoglou just four days after featuring in the Asian Cup semi-final for Korea in Qatar, a tournament in which he played the full 600 minutes across six matches in barely three weeks.

Burgess added: “The travel demands on South American and Asian players with European clubs is simply unsustainable.

“These statistics do not include the summer tournaments that are coming up, just from their commitments during the season so far.

“It shows us that even at the biggest clubs, an average of eight players will play 50 per cent of a club’s entire playing minutes, with the other 22 players in the squad playing the remaining 50 per cent.

“Coaches feel they have to put their best players on the pitch, even if they are in danger.

“If you look at Julian Alvarez at Manchester City, he has played in 64 matches this season and been on the bench another six times.

“Even when you are only a substitute, you still have to warm up and warm down, and you have to switch on mentally. It is not a rest.

“Kylian Mbappe is facing the Euros this summer, the Club World Cup next year and then the World Cup in 2026.

“It could mean him playing 200 games in his first two seasons at Real Madrid, including 72 matches next season.

“More than half of all players say they have been forced to play when injured and 82 per cent of coaches admitted they selected players they knew needed a rest.

“It adds up to both a physical AND a mental risk if we continue down this path.

“Players are not recovering properly from games or seasons.

“If you are playing a European away match on a Thursday you can get back at 6am the next morning and be expected to perform at noon on the Sunday. It’s just not fair on the players.”

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk