PFA chief executive Maheta Molango has defended Cole Palmer after the Chelsea playmaker pulled out of international duty, blaming a 'sick' football calendar rather than any issue on the player's side. His comments come as a direct response to England boss Thomas Tuchel, who had criticised Palmer for missing too many camps.
Palmer was initially named in the Three Lions' squad for the first international break of the campaign but was forced to withdraw. He was also a notable absence from Tuchel's World Cup selection.
Molango points to fixture congestion
Molango suggested that Palmer's absence stems from a packed fixture list. He highlighted the case of a player who would have played four consecutive summers in a row had he gone to the World Cup.
"When England see five players who need to withdraw when the single most proud moment a player has is to be called up for the national team, you just ask yourself, what’s wrong about the industry?" Molango said.
"You see people like Cole Palmer, someone who would have played four consecutive summers in a row had he gone to the World Cup, and you wonder why is he missing?" He added: "He’s missing because he’s a victim of the calendar and that’s something that needs to absolutely trigger the alarm bells."
Wider concerns for the game
Molango pointed to other recent withdrawals from European teams, including Kai Havertz, Brian Brobbey and Kylian Mbappe, to argue that the issue is not confined to England. He questioned whether this is the football that fans want, where "the people who make us dream just cannot perform."
"For me it’s very worrying," he said. "What we’ve seen over the last few years is a system that’s sick, that’s ill, because it ultimately revolves around obtaining votes and power consolidation."
Tuchel's earlier criticism
Molango's comments come just a week after Tuchel criticised Palmer for not being available for England. Tuchel said: "He misses too many camps. That’s the overall headline."
"We have a lot of invitations and he couldn’t make this one. It is what it is. I am not ready to focus on players who are not here. The players that are here have my full attention," he added.
Tuchel also said: "It is a missed opportunity. He [Palmer] misses too many opportunities. I don’t blame him for it. It is just a fact. He misses way too many camps with injuries, and I only want to rely on what I witness within my team, and for that you have to be in camp."
Molango concluded: "It’s a defeat for football that people like Cole Palmer and Phil Foden miss out on the World Cup. They’re the people that you pay to see. People don’t pay for the journeyman Maheta Molango. People pay to see those type of guys." He added: "I want to see them perform at their peak and it shouldn’t be the survival of the fittest. Unfortunately, both on the male and female sides, that’s not what we’re seeing."
