Ex-Chelsea defender Gary Cahill believes that his former team and Manchester City’s participation in the Club World Cup may not impact them in a negative way next season.
Pep Guardiola has said the tournament could prove to be a “disaster” for his side if his players’ fitness tails off in the second half of the 2025/26 campaign, but speaking to BetMGM, Cahill said he doesn’t see things that way:
“The players are managed so well now in terms of workloads and recovery but, ultimately, being a professional footballer at the top level is very demanding because of the number of competitions there are. Everyone wants to be playing at the very top level and I think you’ve got to accept you’re not going to have very long off as a result.”
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“For me, it was as much about switching off mentally as it was getting a break physically. I can see why some might think the clubs not playing in the Club World Cup, like Liverpool or Arsenal, might have a physical advantage as they’ll have had a couple of months relaxing on the beach but it’s not as simple as that.”
“For Chelsea and Manchester City, their pre-seasons will be more just building up from what they did at the Club World Cup and so they won’t need as long to build up their fitness as clubs that didn’t play in it will.”
Man City’s early exit should help avoid burnout
If there was one silver lining from the club’s shock defeat to Al-Hilal in the last 16, it is that the players will have more preparation time heading into next season.
The first team is not expected to return to training until July 28th, which gives them almost a month to recharge their batteries. That should avert any danger of burnout.
Of course, it does mean that the squad will still only have three weeks of preparation before their first Premier League game against Wolves on August 16th, but there should be no concerns about heading into the campaign undercooked.
Even with limited preseason last year, Guardiola’s men got off to a strong start before their form dropped off a cliff. The goal this time will be to maintain a high standard throughout the campaign.
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