Palmer a 'Victim' of 'Sick' Calendar, PFA Chief Says — SkimNews
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- Maheta Molango called Cole Palmer a 'victim' of a 'sick' system at the Fifpro performance summit in London, saying the match calendar has become 'survival of the fittest.'
- Five England players — Palmer, Marcus Rashford, Declan Rice, Kobbie Mainoo and Tino Livramento — pulled out of Thomas Tuchel's squad ahead of the latest international window.
- Thomas Tuchel said Palmer 'misses too many opportunities' after the forward withdrew for 'load management,' prompting Molango to retort: 'You cannot cheat biology.'
- Molango cited parallel withdrawals from Germany (Kai Havertz), the Netherlands (Brian Brobbey) and France (Kylian Mbappe) as evidence the problem is systemic, not England-specific.
- Molango proposed a mandatory three-week summer break plus a three-week 'retraining' period, calling the current calendar structure 'ill' and driven by 'votes and power consolidation.'
- Rebecca Caplehorn, the Premier League's chief football officer, said she was 'really supportive' of the concept but that it 'doesn't fit into the current calendar' without regulatory change.
Why it matters: The PFA is now publicly naming a star player as collateral damage and quoting Tuchel's own barb back at him, turning a squad announcement into an industry-wide indictment. With five England withdrawals plus Havertz, Brobbey and Mbappe also pulling out, the calendar fight has crossed from union rhetoric into a documented pattern that broadcasters, leagues and FIFA must answer before the next window.
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