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England manager Gareth Southgate has expressed reservations about Arsene Wenger's proposed reforms of the international calendar, fearing an injured player could be frozen out of their national team for a whole year.
Wenger, the former Arsenal boss who is now FIFA's Chief of Global Football Development, wants to see a biennial World Cup but also mid-season internationals to be compartmentalised into just one or two windows rather than the current five.
Under one of the draft proposals from Wenger shown to FIFA's member associations, the season would pause for a month in October for tournament qualifiers to be completed.
England manager Gareth Southgate has expressed reservations about Arsene Wenger's proposed reforms of the international football calendar
Former Arsenal boss Wenger has proposed the World Cup be staged every two years and that all mid-season internationals such as qualifiers be played over a month in October
But Southgate, preparing his side for Tuesday's World Cup qualifier against Hungary at Wembley, pointed out a flaw in Wenger's plan.
'What if your player was injured in the October? He doesn't play international football for a year,' he said.
'I saw some initial proposals, they seemed to be doing the rounds but I'm not quite sure what exactly is on the table
