Barcelona’s Lionel Messi has been advised he needs a holiday and a total break from football.
The recommendation comes from former Argentina physical fitness Coach Fernando Signorini, who believes Messi is playing too many games and may not arrive at the 2014 World Cup Finals in peak condition.
“I have known this wonderful player since he was a kid and what he needs is a holiday with his wife and son. Playing more than 100 games with their physical demands makes it impossible for him always to be 10-out-of-10,” Signorini told Argentine news agency Telam.
“The physical fitness experts are not always as necessary as everybody thinks and saying this could get me into trouble with some of my colleagues.
“However, Vicente del Bosque, who led Spain World Cup success in South Africa, recognised that a number of his players were injured less when they did less training.”
Signorini, who worked in South Africa with the Albiceleste, believes the overload of games added to the way clubs train and play generates even more injuries.
“Today one of the most fashionable injuries is the groin strain and here I hope the specialists are not angry, but it did not exist before.
“Many things happen now that we did not know about in the past, because then more time was spent on a player’s technique,” he concluded.
