How much is too much? It’s a question people are asking more frequently with regard to young footballers, as some of the game’s biggest breakthrough stars are racking up thousands of minutes before they turn 21.
The issue rose to prominence once again during the last international break as 19-year-old Barcelona and Spain star Gavi sustained a serious knee injury during his 27th-straight game for his nation. (He now faces roughly 10 months on the sidelines after surgery.)
It’s something Spain has experience with before, as his Barcelona teammate Pedri took to the pitch an incredible 73 times for club and country in the 2020-21 season. That is an achievement proudly displayed on Barcelona’s website — along with a little note to say he played the first two games of the following season before being granted a two-week holiday — but a succession of hamstring injuries have hampered his development ever since.
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Is playing this many games healthy at such a young age? Are players being put at risk? Will it shorten their career as a result? For the likes of Pedri, Gavi, Arsenal‘s Bukayo Saka and Real Madrid‘s Jude Bellingham these are important questions.
Case Study 1: Bukayo Saka
In October, Arsenal’s 22-year-old winger missed his first Premier League game in over two years, snapping a remarkable streak of playing 87 successive top-flight matches — with domestic and European cup games adding to that total as well.
Many Arsenal fans on social media have been calling for Saka to get a rest, miss a game, or be substituted once the club are comfortable in a game. But he continues to amass minutes regardless of the fixture, and has 1,037 from his 12 games this season already — only behind midfielder Declan Rice (1,114) and centre-back William Saliba (who has played every minute for 1,170).
Fans may be confused why Saka has not been rested given he has played 147 times for 11,539 minutes since his breakthrough in November 2018 (and every game of the past two seasons), but according to Callum Walsh, an experienced conditioning coach and former Head of Sports Science at Newcastle United, the winger’s body simply hasn’t given off the warning signs that the club’s sports scientists are watching for.
“Saka has shown he’s very robust,” he tells ESPN. “He burst onto the scene and has played all the time; he’s shown he can handle starting every game. If that’s the case, why wouldn’t you start him? I’ve worked with more than 20 different managers. Most worry about their jobs; not many can afford to not play their best players because there’s so much pressure on them at the top level. There’s hundreds of millions of pounds at stake. Saka is a star player, so he plays.”
Walsh says Arsenal’s medical staff will be looking for the first signal that an injury could occur — that may come from a barrage of medical tests including blood work, sleep analysis, muscle recovery, or just how the player feels. One came recently for Saka, snapping that 87-game streak, but it only kept him out for one game, which won’t be deemed significant.
“Once you get that first warning signal, that’s where you need to act, start thinking ahead and managing a player’s fitness,” he says. “Then when you’re also in European competition and the player plays for his country, it becomes really complicated. You start asking: ‘Where can we get them a bit of a break?’ Not just physically, but there’s a mental refresh part to it too.”
