Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp successfully lobbied for a ‘essential’ change to Premier League rules, despite significant opposition.
During the international break last month, Liverpool left-back Andy Robertson dislocated his shoulder while playing for Scotland against Spain in a Euro 2024 qualifier. When he returned to Liverpool, it was determined that surgery was the best option for him.
Jürgen Klopp confirmed that the procedure was performed on October 25, and that the rehabilitation period will last approximately three months (via BBC Sport). In terms of timeline, it is still the most serious injury to have struck Liverpool this season.
Injuries are becoming more common throughout the Premier League. According to BBC Sport expert Ben Dinnery, there have already been 196 since the start of the season, a 15% increase over the previous four seasons.
This revelation has inevitably heightened concerns about player safety, and things appear to be getting worse. With the implementation of a new ‘Swiss model’, teams will play two more matches in the first phase of UEFA competitions next season. To advance to the round of 16, teams finishing ninth to 24th in the overall 36-team league table will have to play an additional knockout round. The traditional December to February break will be eliminated, and finalists will be eliminated The tournament allows for up to 17 games.
Meanwhile, FIFA has announced that starting in 2025, a 32-team Club World Cup will be held every four years and will feature 12 European teams. It could significantly extend the season for elite players if held in the summer.
The game is heading in an unsettling direction, and nothing is being done to stop it. There are no indications that the international match calendar will be reduced to compensate for the intensifying club schedule. Instead, more teams have been added in recent years to the European Championships, Africa Cup of Nations, CONCACAF Gold Cup, and AFC Asian Cup, and the World Cup will feature 48 countries starting in 2026. Simply put, more matches equal more money, so any steps back toward moderation from here will be detrimental.
The introduction of five substitutes is one of the few meaningful countermeasures we’ve seen. This isn’t enough to avert the player welfare crisis, but it does help to mitigate the problem by allowing for more rest within games.
Indeed, it’s worth pondering how desperate the current situation would be if the Premier League had decided to stick with three substitutes instead. There was, remember, initial resistance to the plan, which failed to accrue enough votes until 2022 after its temporary application as part of ‘Project Restart’.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was one of the most vocal, consistent, and, when clubs voted ‘no,’ frustrated supporters. “It’s critical that we go for the five subs in the Premier League at some point,” he said in March 2022 (via This is Anfield). “I’m not sure why it takes so long to understand it.” Because the Premier League must also save its top players.
“You keep the players in a better place, you would get much less injuries, definitely, over the years — we will see that if we finally introduce it. That’s why we need five subs, I tell you. I don’t know why you [journalists in the room] are laughing — it’s not funny. We need five subs.”
The rather sad reality is that, in all likelihood, this change was only approved in the end because it didn’t hurt clubs’ revenues. In that sense, it was effectively free PR.
Still, elite players should be thankful to figures like Klopp, who certainly wasn’t alone in his calls but used his platform effectively, for speaking up on their behalf. Granted, we won’t see truly significant change until those in charge of FIFA and its continental subsidiaries take heed, but in the current climate, anything that alleviates the pressure on players should be celebrated, and that includes the addition of extra substitutions.
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