The Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) is pushing for clubs to stop using ‘bomb squads’ as a way to force unwanted players to leave.
It has become common for players to find themselves training away from the first-team squad if they are deemed surplus to requirements before the transfer window closes.
That has happened at Chelsea this summer, with Raheem Sterling, Trevor Chalobah, and Ben Chilwell all being instructed to train separately from Enzo Maresca’s first-team group.
The PFA, the players’ union in England, is aware of what is happening at Chelsea but does not comment on their involvement in individual club cases.
In all cases where the PFA has been alerted to what is happening at a club, the first thing they do is to contact the member directly to get their view of the situation and to see how they can support the player.
They declined to comment when asked by The Athletic if they are in contact with Sterling, Chilwell, or Chalobah.
“We see this tactic used now because there is this opportunity to move players on before the deadline,” James King, general counsel of the PFA, previously told The Athletic when asked about ‘bomb squads’ in 2022.
“Managers change and they make an assessment of their squad, deciding that some players are not in their plans. But a player still has an employment contract and that is for a fixed term. The player is an employee and they have rights and protections like anyone else.
“This isn’t keeping a player’s skills up to the level they should be. These are professional footballers and the employer is obliged to train them at the highest possible level.
“We’ve got to be pragmatic because we understand how the industry works but you’ve got to also understand it from a player’s perspective. A lot of the time they’ve not done anything wrong. It’s just that they’re not fancied.”
In 2022, FIFA clarified its regulations on the issue and Article 14 (2) found that making a player train on their own could lead to a club engaging in “abusive conduct”.
The PFA lobbied for this guidance to be communicated to clubs because it is rooted in employment law.
FIFA’s position on ‘bomb squads’ also gives the players’ union something to reference when they make formal representations to clubs to remind them of their responsibilities.
High-profile sports lawyers are anticipating the possibility of future instruction, in case players want to claim it breaches employment law and take their clubs to court.
GO DEEPER
‘Players have rights like anybody else’ – how ‘bomb squads’ could be breaking the law
(Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)
