Real Madrid star Toni Kroos has taken a swipe at FIFA and UEFA for treating players like “puppets” and only being interested in generating money.
The midfielder is currently on international duty with the German national team as Die Mannschaft take on Ukraine and Spain in the Nations League.
Speaking before their friendly against Czech Republic, Kroos took the opportunity to blast FIFA and UEFA for sucking everything out of players.
“With the invention of all these new things we seem to be just the puppets of FIFA and UEFA,” he said on the Einfach mal Luppen podcast.
“These competitions are created to suck everything out of every single player physically and to suck out as much money as possible,” Kroos continued.
While not making direct reference to Joe Gomez picking up a fresh injury on England duty, the Real Madrid man’s words ring true in light of the news.
The Liverpool defender sustained a non-contact knee injury when training with the Three Lions yesterday and will now head back to Merseyside for assessment.
Gomez isn’t the only player with fitness concerns during the international break, though – Nathan Ake and Christian Pulisic are two of several stars now facing time on the side-lines.