”Of course, for me as a footballer, I love football. I will watch it, I will follow it, especially because a lot of our players are involved. You will have to focus on them more than other nations, you will watch it with a lot of pleasure moving forward. It is a little bit strange in the middle of the season, as you are also thinking about your own team and Manchester United and what are the consequences for them. How, after this break, how do you continue. Normally, it is in the summer and you have a long pre-season break after the break after the summer holiday. In pre-season, you then continue, but here on the 27th [December], or even before the 27th, then we will play the Carabao Cup, maybe four or five days after the final of the World Cup. It is a little bit weird.”
After the World Cup, it’s straight back into both the Carabao Cup and the Premier League, how do you envisage us as a squad when the football resumes domestically?
”That there is a big question mark because no-one knows. I am happy that a lot of our players are involved because it means we have good players. Also, they will be playing games hopefully and the ones who play the games will come back fit and that they are ready to play. I think it is a disadvantage for teams who don’t have many players at the World Cup because they have to play friendlies, and friendlies are different to real games. I am most concerned for the players who are in the squad but don’t play, because they don’t have friendlies and they only have training for substitutes and they can drop off in fitness. They can drop off in focus and maybe also they could come back in a different mental health space which is another question and concern. That is what we have to manage so I am looking forward as it is what follows, but there could be consequences with the games.”
