PFA chief backs Cole Palmer over England absences, calls football calendar 'sick'

PFA chief executive Maheta Molango has publicly sided with Cole Palmer in his dispute with England manager Thomas Tuchel, describing the modern football calendar as “sick” and warning that elite players are being broken by an unrelenting schedule.

Palmer was named in Tuchel’s squad for England’s first international break of the season but withdrew, continuing a pattern that has drawn sharp words from the Germany-born coach. Palmer was also absent from Tuchel’s World Cup selection, prompting the manager to state last week that the Chelsea midfielder “misses too many camps” and represents a “missed opportunity”.

Molango pushed back firmly, pointing to a broader structural problem rather than any failing on Palmer’s part. “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?” the PFA chief said.

He framed Palmer’s situation as symptomatic of a calendar that demands too much from the game’s most gifted performers. “He’s missing because he’s a victim of the calendar and that’s something that needs to absolutely trigger the alarm bells,” Molango said, adding that Palmer would have played four consecutive summers in a row had he featured at the World Cup.

Molango widened his argument beyond England, citing the recent withdrawals of Kai Havertz, Brian Brobbey, and Kylian Mbappé from their respective national squads as further evidence of a systemic failure. “For those who think that it’s only a matter in England, then look at Kai Havertz, Brian Brobbey and Kylian Mbappe and ask yourself — is that really the football that we want?”

The PFA chief was unsparing in his diagnosis of the sport’s governing structures. “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,” he said. “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.”

Tuchel, speaking before Molango’s intervention, had stopped short of blaming Palmer directly but made clear his frustration. “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,” the England manager said.

The exchange sets up a pointed debate about where responsibility lies when elite players repeatedly miss international duty — with the individuals, the clubs, or the institutions that continue to expand the fixture calendar.