How Much Attention should Countries pay to Clubs needs?

So the old Club vs Country debate is back in the news again, as Arsene Wenger was in an irritable mood regarding Andrei Arshavin’s appearance for Russia against Wales on Wednesday. The Arsenal midfielder has a groin problem, which he picked up when his club took on Man United a couple of weeks ago and missed his countries game against Liechtenstein last saturday. But he played against Wales on Wednesday, and Wenger was incensed.

But Arshavin, rarely shy of speaking his mind, has spoken out and said that he’s glad he played against Wales.
“There was no recurrence of a groin injury, as has been reported in many publications. Moreover, I’m more concerned today with my knee than the groin. Nothing appears to have worsened, scans on Friday are only showing issues in the knee”

Oh only the knee Andrei. That’ll set Arsene’s mind at rest.

The big question though, is who should have the final say when it comes to players risking injuries to play for their countries?

Should it be the club paying the wages? Or the player himself? Or the country, who presumably wouldn’t want to seriously injure a star player anyway?

I’m not sure about anywhere else, but in the UK this gets alot of press coverage. Rafa Benitez is usually first in the queue to complain about the treatment of his players at international level (ie for Spain) and he does seem to usually come back with Fernando Torres unavailable.

I have to say, that in a sense, I respect that Arshavin has put his country first. I don’t entirely understand his logic (in that article above, he both claims that he hasn’t exaggerated his injury, he’s worried about his knee, and that he couldn’t play this weekend regardless of whether he played against Wales) but I kind of think its admirable that he’d be willing to play for his country through an injury.

Maybe that’s just because I’m used to it being the other way around for England. Sol Campbell could have got about 50 more caps for us had he not been “injured” every time England had a friendly, and Steven Gerrard also always seems to have picked up a knock (which he’s shaken off by the next Liverpool league game) when friendly matches come around.

I think that really, players should want to play for their countries, it is, surely the highest honour one can attain. I can understand the clubs frustrations as they pay the wages of the players, and I think countries should be fair on clubs by not picking sticking a painkiller in someone and asking them to prolong their period on the sidelines.

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Category: English Premier League, World Football