How Does the Premier League Handle Players’ Physical and Mental Health?

As we’re going through a hard time not only in football but in the whole world, discussions over Premier League players’ mental and physical health have arisen.

Some defend the point that elite PL players should only worry about physical injuries and 100% should be ready to deal with mental health problems on a personal level, meaning clubs and the league don’t have to be involved in this.

However, even though physical injuries are crucial, since they dictate whether a player will be in a condition to play matches, we should also talk about mental health. 

World-class players don’t necessarily have to be the most talented or naturally gifted ones, but the ones who have the right winning mentality, who can handle the daily pressure, and who can train both on- and off-duty.

Understanding How Important Mental Health Is For Premier League Players

If you go over social media and take a look at how most football fans treat PL players’ mental health issues, you are going to realise that deep down, they don’t really care about that subject.

The “They get paid millions just to kick a football” card is always played, and although this part is true, it is much more complex than merely kicking a football in midweek and weekend competitions.

Yes, PL players get huge paychecks, but there are also downsides that unprepared players can experience, thus losing themselves and risking ruining a promising career. 

After all, players have lots of responsibilities. They spend most of their lives traveling to attend matches and end up not having enough free time to enjoy the money they make, at least not while they’re still active footballers.

This is true specifically in the Premier League, where the schedule is extremely tight. Games occur every few days, and the league usually has busy Decembers, while other leagues take a break for the holidays.

Also, an elite footballer lifestyle is extremely rigid overall. Players need to count every grain of rice they eat and always be at the training ground on time. Then, they have roughly a month free after spending the good part of the year with their teammates.

However, the toughest part is when it comes to handling the pressures of being a PL player. Many players in the league are true inspirations to young supporters, who think of these professionals when playing football in their backyards, at public spaces, or at school.

It is not easy to deal with it, as players know they have millions of followers from all over the world who are watching them. The feeling is that they cannot make human mistakes.

At the same time, however, players know that “to whom much is given, much is expected” and that they need to play the influencer role, positively influencing the next generation. Sometimes, though, some of these players wish they were just a little more humanised.

The Premier League’s Stance on Mental and Physical Health

Prior to the pandemic outbreak, the PL and its clubs miserably failed on how they conducted the mental health issue from their players. Some clubs’ sports directors even got to the point of insinuating some of the aforementioned supporters’ arguments to downplay players’ mental health.

On the other hand, though, players always receive the best injury treatment possible when it comes to their physical health, so we don’t have much to complain about this part.

Physical

PL clubs have always been ahead of their times when it comes to taking care of their players’ physical health, be it on the post-game recovery treatment, or while the players are injured.

Technology and advanced medicine have always played a major role in this. This has made it possible to treat and actually completely heal previously career-ending injuries. Virgil van Dijk’s ACL injury is the most recent example we have of this particular situation, as he was told that, had his injury occurred 15 years ago, his career would possibly have ended. 

However, modern surgical proceedings have made it possible for players to recover from this and other kinds of long-term injuries.

What isn’t talked about enough, though, is that, although medicine has advanced, players are still humans and need at least some kind of psychological help at times to deal with their problems.

Mental

And that’s where the mental part comes into action. The football world as a whole never really paid attention to the mental area. But they realistically should, as players with a strong mentality can win titles.

Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool are a great example of this. They don’t have the most expensive or hyped squad. However, their overall winning mentality is something to be admired.

Although some may say that the Liverpool example is not so much about mental health as it is about having a winning mindset, at the end of the day, a proper champion’s mentality cannot be built without mentally healthy players, so one thing is directly connected to the other.

However, that is not how Premier League clubs and the league itself have generally regarded players’ mental health issues over time, although it has slightly improved with the COVID-19 pandemic, as we are about to see.

How Things Changed In The Post-COVID Era

Top-flight European leagues took a forced two-month break at the end of last season due to the pandemic. When football finally resumed, most of the leagues agreed on five subs per game, and some even extended their season calendar.

The sole league in Europe that didn’t do so was the EPL, with a majority of clubs rejecting the five-sub rule and the league’s directors rejecting managers’ and clubs’ appeals for a calendar extension.

The outcome was the expected injury crisis that hit most of the clubs and will absolutely impact the final Premier League results this season.

We all understand that this is a delicate issue. Money talks, and in the richest league in the world, that isn’t any different. However, if a league’s best players get injured, the team will end up losing anyway, so the pandemic is actually a lose-lose situation.

Analysing the mental area, though, we can see a major improvement from both the Premier League and its clubs’ sides.

Relegated PL side Watford were one of the main clubs to push for a general acknowledgement of players’ mental health issues, mainly through their captain, striker Troy Deeney.

Deeney publicly opened up about his and his teammates’ mental health situations, as most of them were suffering from anxiety-related problems, which was directly linked to the uncertainty that the sport was experiencing.

The PL even created a page on its official website talking about the mental health issue for players and supporters in an attempt to help those who are in need in these difficult times.

While we still don’t see clubs or the league itself pushing for hashtags such as #PlayersMentalHealthMatters, they are acknowledging the problem, which is already a step forward.

Still, both at league and club level, things are far from ideal at this time.