The Premier League clubs fighting a World Cup hangover
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- Tottenham had four players in the World Cup's final weekend, with Cristian Romero and new signing Marcos Senesi (Argentina) and Pedro Porro (Spain) entitled to return no earlier than 9 August, leaving about two weeks before their Premier League opener at Brentford on 22 August.
- Manchester City and Arsenal carried the heaviest concentration of deep-tournament players, with City losing Rodri (726 minutes as Spain won the trophy), Marc Guehi and Elliot Anderson (England to the final weekend), Nico O'Reilly (semi-finals), and Haaland and Doku (quarter-finals), while Arsenal had Rice and Saka reach the third-place play-off and Zubimendi and Merino the final.
- Aston Villa's Emiliano Martínez logged the heaviest workload of any Premier League player at 810 minutes across Argentina's run to the final, followed by Liverpool's Alexis Mac Allister at 749 minutes and City's Rodri at 726 — the equivalent of roughly eight full matches.
- Rodri has had back surgery and will miss the start of the season, while Arsenal's William Saliba is sidelined for an "extended period" with a back issue — injuries the article notes cannot be solely attributed to the World Cup but underline the physical demands of the crowded calendar.
- Premier League players have now faced three consecutive summers of major tournaments (Euro 2024, Copa America, the expanded Club World Cup and this World Cup), with Rodri warning in 2024 that footballers were "close" to striking over workload concerns — concerns echoed by Arsenal's Mikel Arteta and Manchester City's Enzo Maresca.
- Tournament injuries included Aston Villa's Amadou Onana suffering a serious knee injury with Belgium and Manchester United's Manuel Ugarte seeing his run cut short, while Reece James had his minutes carefully managed by England as he recovered from a hamstring problem.
Why it matters: Tottenham, Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea begin the season without full pre-seasons with key players, leaving managers to balance tactical preparation against player recovery in roughly 12 days before competitive football resumes. The compressed window — and the Rodri, Arteta and Maresca warnings it has triggered — raises the prospect of slow starts, cautious minutes management and fresh injury risks for clubs whose stars just completed eight matches' worth of tournament football.
