Gareth Bale vocally expressed what many have been feeling over the past fortnight as the UEFA Nations League extends a long season beyond its expiry date.
"Someone mentioned on the table at lunch that Kevin De Bruyne could play 79 games next season and have a three-week break," said Bale before Wales' latest international.
"It is too much. Things obviously need to change. I think every player will tell you there are way too many games - it is impossible to play at a high level for that amount of games, and there will be consequences in the long term.
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"People's bodies can't deal with that kind of calendar year after year. Something has to change. People at the top of the game have to do something, but unfortunately, money comes into it. For player welfare, money needs to be overlooked, and you need to look after the players because, without the players, there's no product."
De Bruyne could play 79 games, and on the Chelsea front, Mason Mount could also end up close to that tally.
Why are we still playing? It seems utterly insane that for some international players, the 14th of June will mark the end of their 2021/22 campaigns.
Mount, who has started all of England's UEFA Nations League games so far, hit the 62 mark on Saturday evening against Italy at Molineux. The game played out like one, including several players who have featured in over 50 games for club and country over the past 12 months.
It was drab, highly forgettable, and looked like a season in need of its full stop. That full stop is close though concerns over its long-lasting impact will not disappear.
For context over how elongated these internationals are, Chelsea's pre-season begins at Cobham on the 2nd of July, three weeks from the time of writing.
And although we understand that there are set to be two groups arriving at Cobham, with those involved in internationals returning a little later, there is still an expectation that Thomas Tuchel will have a pretty full squad to choose from by the time the Blues jet-off for their tour of America in mid-July.
This comes off the back of a pretty taxing season that followed the European Championships that followed a COVID-effected season that followed an intense project restart for the Premier League. If you are a player like Mount, who is a regular for both club and country, the physical strain is unavoidable.
Many fans will turn a blind eye or dismiss these concerns as excuses, showing little sympathy for players paid exorbitant amounts on a weekly basis for a job we'd do for free. But £300,000 a week cannot stop muscle fatigue. It cannot prevent mental exhaustion. All issues we have seen crop up at the top level recently.
Tuchel has expressed concern over the demands on modern players and the harsh reality that he and many other top coaches will be dealing with the post-World Cup exhaustion next season. It is hard to envisage a scenario where the winter World Cup does not impact the quality of competition.
And where does this end? We have had the recent FIFA proposals led by a smug Arsene Wenger calling for biennial World Cups. The Club World Cup is set to be expanded and moved to a summer slot, more replicating the international tournament setup. The UEFA Champions League is being expanded too.
You throw in the summer pre-season tours across the globe, the growing intensity of the actual game itself that demands a higher level of physical exertion and fitness, and this all feels like it's heading towards a bleak reality.
One at the very least, as Bale and others have alluded to, the quality of the product severely lessens because the players have little to give.
