Newcastle United legend Alan Shearer slams ‘nonsense’ Liverpool claim

Van Dijk, who earns a reported £220,000-per-week at Liverpool, has slammed the schedules in English football with no winter break, two domestic cup competitions and potential European football on top of the regular league campaign.

Combined with potential international duty during rare breaks in the season, some players could find themselves playing in excess of 50 matches over the course of a campaign.

“In England we believe the schedules are too busy,” Van Dijk said via The Mirror. “The players are getting paid well but it should never come at the cost of our health. We keep having to play more and more games.“We as players should start saying something about it, contribute to a solution. No, I am not prepared to give up 10 percent [of his salary]. I don’t think that should depend on my salary.“You are now trying to get me to say something nice. The Nations League that comes with it, for example, does not go to my salary. We get bonuses, but that is not a guarantee.”

The suggestion from Van Dijk that players should be expected to do less work in terms of playing matches but still get paid the same did not go down well with the Premier League’s all-time leading goalscorer.

Shearer responded on The Rest Is Football podcast: “Nonsense. Nonsense. Players are playing too much football? What? I mean come on.

“I know you should never mention the money, but you’ve got bigger squads than ever, more substitutes than ever, getting paid more money than ever, you’ve got the best physios, the best technology, the best of everything.

Do me a favour, playing too much football? Didn’t he say it was England that play too much football? International football I get and understand.

“We all know why they’re doing it, they’re doing it for financial reasons. But here in England, you can tell I don’t really agree with that.”

Van Dijk isn’t the only high profile figure in the Premier League to hit out at the hectic schedule of clubs. Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola slammed his side’s fixture schedule as ‘irresponsible’ ahead of the trip to Newcastle in the Carabao Cup last month.