Oy, Mate, You Broke My Player

Usually charming and relatively sane managers like Arsene Wenger and Rafa Benitez have been frothing at the mouth this week as they see their star players return from international duty tired, injured or both.

Benitez has been particularly outspoken about this, demanding that if a player is injured on international duty, "100% of the players wages" be paid by their national football association for the duration of their injury.

Um, sorry, Mr Benitez, that way madness lies. Just imagine if someone like Didier Drogba broke his leg playing for the Ivory Coast. Can the Ivorian FA really afford Drogba's wages for two or three months until the player is fit again ? I think not.

Worse still, such a move would kill the entire sport in certain poorer countries. No more money for the national F.A to help coach and produce good talent they can sell to big European clubs because all their income is going to Chelsea because Drogba fell over and hurt himself.

Ridiculous. The managers of these big rich clubs should try to remember that not everyone is as wealthy as they are. Next time they are shooting their mouths of about injuries to their players, they should try to remember that.