Man City have ‘serious problem’ as Jeremy Doku triggers injury concerns - Ex-PGMOL chief

Manchester City are being left in the dark over the protection of their biggest stars during the 2026 World Cup.

That is according to former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA referee, Keith Hackett, who exclusively told Football Insider that fatigue will set in once all the players return to the Etihad Stadium after the tournament.

Supporters already have reason to worry after Jeremy Doku was on the end of a "red card" challenge during Belgium's 5-0 friendly win over Tunisia recently, though he did escape injury.

Erling Haaland, Rayan Cherki and Marc Guehi, to name just a few, have all been in action ahead of the tournament. Luckily, there are no serious injuries to report yet.

Man City no longer have control over stars' fitness

Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the former referee said: "The element of club involvement is that the player is literally, like the referees, handed over to FIFA.

"They take out massive insurance coverage on players. I think afterwards there's always that serious problem of fatigue.

"Players come back and they actually get injured when they start to play in their home-nation competitions.

"I would find it amazing after such a long season, and I know players have to acclimatise, but actually watching the England players going through those training regimes, you think, 'hang on a minute'.

"They'd be better off on sunbeds for a couple of weeks getting recovery. I think that's why Thomas Tuchel was saying, 'Look, take your holidays in this part of the world to cut the travelling down and get some rest'."

Erling Haaland causes further concern away from the Etihad

Supporters would have been watching from behind the sofa when Doku was crunched into during Belgium's friendly win, but it was nothing on his superstar teammate Haaland.

And no, he hasn't picked up an injury of any kind. He did have an extremely difficult time against Morocco, however, being picked apart and slammed by Norwegian media.

He had just four touches in 72 minutes against Morocco before being replaced by Jorgen Strand Larsen, being labelled "shockingly bad".

It was certainly a game to forget for City's talisman, and not one that he would have hoped for just before going into a World Cup campaign.