Havertz, Isak, Dorgu among several players injured on international duty during four-match break

Premier League clubs and their European rivals returned from international duty to find a long list of absentees after players suffered injuries while representing their national teams during a four-match international break that completed four matches in 11 days. The casualties include Kai Havertz, Alexander Isak and Patrick Dorgu among others.

Wales head coach Craig Bellamy warned of the demands placed on modern squads, saying: “The intensity of the squad, the athleticism of it, really, I think it’s designed for the elite,” as clubs watched players pull up and gesture to the bench during a schedule that has produced numerous hamstring and muscle problems. Club officials described the break as a stress test and reported an almost daily list of casualties as matches were staged across the globe.

Sunderland will be without Brian Brobbey and Dan Ballard after the pair sustained strains while playing for the Netherlands and Northern Ireland respectively. Bournemouth have lost Alex Scott for up to two months after a pre-existing quadriceps injury worsened following his appearance for England in their 7-0 win over Croatia, a match in which his performance drew praise; Thomas Tuchel said: “There was zero risk taken from our side.” The Bournemouth coach, Marco Rose, is unlikely to see it that way.

The phrase “load management” was used to explain absences by Cole Palmer and Declan Rice, with Rice reported to have played 69 matches and 5,394 minutes during the 2025-26 season. Arsenal still had 17 players called up during the break, and Mikel Arteta is counting them back into training with concern. England Under-19s player Max Dowman left the field after a heavy tackle, while Ezri Konsa withdrew from the England squad following injuries to Christos Tzolis and Kai Havertz; Tzolis pulled his shirt over his head after injuring a hamstring and Havertz suffered a similar problem for Germany against the Netherlands.

Norway reported a less serious outcome for Martin Ødegaard after an X-ray showed “Nothing dramatic” and he returned for a second match against Portugal, but Erling Haaland requested to leave the field in the same fixture. Norway head coach Ståle Solbakken said: “For those who play in the Champions League and have had little vacation, it’s more brutal than for the others.” Manchester City have given Haaland a brief rest ahead of their match at Liverpool, the club’s first fixture since being found guilty of more than 100 alleged Premier League financial regulation breaches.

Only Elliot Anderson, Marc Guéhi and Harry Kane started all four England Nations League matches, with Nico O’Reilly withdrawing halfway through. Liverpool’s squad concerns continued after Alexander Isak and Cody Gakpo sustained injuries with Sweden and the Netherlands respectively, and Jérémy Jacquet reportedly strained a hamstring while with France; the source described Isak and Gakpo as early successes for the Andoni Iraola regime.

Manchester United’s match against Tottenham will also be affected by absentees after Patrick Dorgu pulled up with a hamstring injury playing for Denmark and Noussair Mazraoui suffered a knock for Morocco against Lesotho. Bruno Fernandes has been playing through what his national coach Jorge Jesus called a “complicated problem.” Tottenham received a mix of news: Micky van der Ven’s hand injury was not serious, Jan Paul van Hecke sustained a foot injury, and Pedro Porro missed Spain’s assignments and will not return in time for the trip to Old Trafford.

Injuries extended beyond England: Bayern Munich lost Jamal Musiala to a torn muscle in his right thigh while on duty for Germany, and Kylian Mbappé sprained his knee in the second match of Zinedine Zidane’s France reign but appears on the road to recovery judging by social media pictures of a cycling expedition. José Mourinho warned about downtime activities, saying: “You cannot ride a bike. You fall off your bike, and you don’t play three matches maybe, or maybe worse, maybe you break a leg.”

The casualty list leaves high-profile Premier League fixtures — Manchester City at Liverpool and Manchester United hosting Tottenham — scheduled to proceed amid a backdrop of multiple absentees and ongoing concern about player workload.