Arsenal fans will completely agree with Jurgen Klopp’s Club World Cup verdict after Noni Madueke blow
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(Credit: Imago)
Michael Mongie
Tue 23 September 2025 18:50, UK
Jurgen Klopp will feel vindicated about his concern for player welfare before the Club World Cup given the number of injuries to Premier League players this season.
Chelsea won the FIFA Club World Cup in the summer after beating PSG 3-0 at the MetLife Stadium in New York thanks to goals from Cole Palmer and Joao Pedro.
Noni Madueke has been ruled out for three weeks through injury as Arsenal continue to struggle with a spate of injuries similar to their poor run of luck in that area last season.
Mikel Arteta confirmed the injury to Madueke, which will come as a severe blow to the Gunners’ hopes of challenging for the Premier League title after they drew 1-1 with Manchester City on Sunday (21 September).
Credit: Imago
Jurgen Klopp has always been a major advocate for player welfare.
He adopted a particularly hardline approach on the matter amid UEFA and FIFA creating new competitions, which have cluttered the annual football schedule.
Ahead of the Club World Cup in the United States during the summer, Klopp called for fewer games in the football calendar to protect players from sustaining unnecessary injury.
Although he was heavily criticised for his stance, the German may feel vindicated now even if he might have preferred to be wrong this time.
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Klopp said in June 2025: “It’s all about the game and not the surrounding events – and that’s why the Club World Cup is the worst idea ever implemented in football in this regard.
“It’s a pointless competition.
Whoever wins it will be the worst winner of all time because they’ll have played all summer and then gone straight back into the league.
“There are people who have never been involved in the day-to-day business of football and are now coming up with ideas.”
Martin Odegaard was absent against Manchester City due to a shoulder injury, while Kai Havertz is missing due to a knee injury.
Bukayo Saka returned after a spell on the sidelines against City but was spotted limping while attending the Ballon d’Or ceremony in Paris this week.
Gabriel Jesus is out with an anterior cruciate ligament injury and has been missing since January.
Add Madueke to that list, and Mikel Arteta’s frustration in recent weeks becomes a little more understandable.
Arsenal will be hoping for more injury luck moving forward, but will also agree with Klopp about the state of the European football calendar.