Manchester City’s Manuel Akanji threatens early retirement from football over ‘limitless’ football fixture schedule | OneFootball

Manuel Akanji has suggested he could consider retirement from football next summer amid the ongoing chaos surrounding football fixtures and the ever-growing calendar.

Manchester City will be faced by two revamped and expanded competitions this season to further test Pep Guardiola’s squad depth and the physical capabilities of the star-studded Etihad Stadium roster.

The UEFA Champions League begins this week with the visit of Inter Milan in a new ‘League Phase’ format that sees all 36 teams go head-to-head in an open format, with eight matches guaranteed for the competitors across the coming months.

Additionally, the FIFA Club World Cup will return at the end of the season as the globe’s competition winners compete for the prize of world champions in a 32-team format in the United States.

The added matches, particularly in the Champions League, are causing havoc for Manchester City and those organising Pep Guardiola’s fixture list. Next week will see Carabao Cup action return too, with a home tie against Watford coming just 49 hours after a meeting with Arsenal.

Speaking this week on the subject of fixture congestion, with City embarking on an expanded UEFA Champions League and FIFA Club World Cup this season alone, Manuel Akanji has warned of an increasing strain on player performance and wellbeing.

“It’s getting more complicated. It’s just got bigger, more games. It was six [UEFA Champions League group games], it can go to 10 [in the league phase],” Akanji said.

“If you’re going to do this, you need to take some games away – you can’t just keep adding game after game and assume everything will be like it was. You have to think about players,” he continued.

“When games get tougher, you want to put out your best team. At some point you’ll be too tired to play any more games. Then come injuries, definitely. We train as hard as possible and we’re fit – but there has to be a limit!

“We have the Club World Cup at the end of this season – it’s just game after game and I don’t know how it will work out over the next couple of years. Let’s say we win the Premier League or FA Cup, then go to the final of the Club World Cup, the Community Shield is three weeks after.”

The Manchester City defender went as far as to suggest that he could consider retirement before the demands of players become dangerously high due to the number of fixtures placed upon players without sufficient rest period.

“So when do we have holidays?! There are no breaks in winter. If we’re lucky we’ll get two weeks and then we need to be back and into next season. Then the next summer it’s the World Cup and then there’s another Club World Cup the following summer. Maybe I’ll retire at 30!”

There is a common misconception within the game that Manchester City have fantastic squad depth in their ranks, however Pep Guardiola much prefers to work with a relatively small group of players capable of operating in multiple positions.

Rico Lewis is a primary example of such a fact, with the Manchester City academy graduate having already started contests for the club at right-back, defensive midfield, left-back, central midfield, and attacking midfield.

It remains to be seen how Pep Guardiola will manage his squad during the first period of congested fixtures this season, with Inter Milan, Arsenal, Watford, and Newcastle United all facing Manchester City in the space of two weeks.