The Professional Football Association, PFA, is keeping a close eye on ‘bomb squads’, which is a way to force players to leave clubs, Sky Sports News reports.
Clubs are beginning to bar players from the main group if they are deemed surplus to requirements.
Chelsea for instance, have told Raheem Sterling, Trevor Chalobah and Ben Chilwell to train away from the first team after Enzo Maresca deemed the trio surplus to requirements.
At least 13 players have been cut out from Maresca’s squad.
It is believed that FIFA guidance has been communicated to all clubs and the PFA is monitoring this situation.
FIFA has several protections in place for clubs and players – and in the governing bodies 2022 statutes handbook, it said the FIFA council has the power to “regulate the status of players and the provisions for their transfer, as well as questions relating to these matters, in particular the encouragement of player training by clubs and the protections of representative teams in form of special regulations from time to time”.
It is understood the primary guidance on player treatment comes from FIFA and has basis on employment law, not league rules.