3 reasons why Eduardo Camavinga should play for Toni Kroos more often

2. Toni Kroos’ workload needs to be managed properly

Toni Kroos is 32, and he isn’t really in those twilight years of his career as a footballer, though he has recently retired from international football. But he is a footballer like anyone else, and workload management is key for him to perform at his optimum level. Unfortunately, he has been severely overused this season, and that is one of the reasons behind his unconvincing performances in recent months.

Kroos didn’t play at the beginning of this season, due to his recovery from Pubalgia. This saw him miss Real Madrid’s games in August and the majority of September 2021, and he also missed another game in March due to a thigh injury. Injuries are common for sportsmen, but the way their recovery is managed is even more important. And Kroos has often been used from the word go after recovering from injuries, just like he was made to start the Sheriff Tiraspol and PSG games, immediately after his return from a layoff.

He didn’t receive proper rest and has been severely overused this season, playing 2792 minutes this season. What’s more worrying is that after his return from Pubalgia, he had taken part in 28 straight games for Real Madrid from September 29, 2021, to February 16, 2022, and was only rested for the Alaves game on February 20.

Some of us might think that “They earn millions, they need to play every game and play well”, and forget that they are humans and they too need to rest. At this stage of the season, it would be criminal to expect Kroos to perform at his best week in week out, without proper rest. He needs to be rested more often, especially when there are able options like Eduardo Camavinga and Fede Valverde on the bench.