Former Chelsea and Arsenal star William Gallas believes World Cup being played mid-season is a "terrible idea" as shown by the recent injuries to Ben Chilwell and Son Heung-min - and has identified a problem that clubs will have to be wary of ahead of the final fixtures before the break.
Chilwell suffered a hamstring injury during the win against Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League on Wednesday night and is now a serious doubt to make the England squad that will head to Qatar. Son had to be substituted during Tottenham's 2-1 win over Marseille following a clash of heads with Chancel Mbemba, with the South Korea star suffering a fractured eye socket
Christian Pulisic has revealed his disappointment for Chilwell with the Blues now awaiting the results from a scan to understand the full extent of his injury. Chelsea now have just five fit defenders ahead of the clash against the Gunners this weekend as they look to get one over their London rivals who lead the way at the top of the Premier League table.
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N'Golo Kante has already been ruled out of featuring for France at the World Cup after picking up a hamstring injury against Spurs back in August, with Chilwell's involvement in Gareth Southgate's squad also in serious doubt with the tournament in Qatar starting later this month. Speaking to Genting Casino, Gallas said: "I don’t think having a World Cup midway through the season was a good idea. Unfortunately, a lot of players are getting injured before the World Cup.
"There are too many competitions in football. We have the World Cup, Champions League, Leagues and cup competitions.
"But for the national teams, it’s not good. The more competitions there are, then the more injuries you have and players are exhausted. And that is a problem."
Raphael Varane left the pitch at Stamford Bridge in tears after coming off with an injury during Chelsea's 1-1 draw against Manchester United earlier this season, and Gallas has claimed that players may be scared of picking up knocks which could rule them out of the World Cup - meaning they may not be as committed in the final games leading up to the break. The French icon added: "To put the World Cup in the middle of the season doesn’t help.
"Players are worried about their injuries so when you see the performances of the players during these games, I don’t think some of them are at 100% because they are scared of getting injured and missing the biggest competition in the world. That’s why you can see some of the performances are really poor."
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