
The World Cup is seen as the largest stage of all with the best display of talent. But are we truly seeing the best talent when huge stars are spending their time at home.
Players have been unfortunate through different reasons, as we already know the Italy squad did not qualify due to suffering a 1-0 upset against North Macedonia back in March 24th. Other names are having to recover from long term injuries due to the amount of fixtures played by the players.
This has been addressed by Managers like Antonio Conte who have criticised the governing bodies about ignoring player welfare. Stated this ”They are not really worried about the welfare of players if they schedule this” about fourth round of Carabao Cup being scheduled just three days after the 2022 World Cup finishes.
Goal Keeper
Gianluigi Donnarumma
The Italian keeper has cemented his place in the starting line up for the Blues and was vital to the success of Euro 2020 win for Italy, Saving 2 penalties in the shoot-out against England.
Donnarumma ranks amongst the top of the keepers securing himself a 78% save record for the season. Only averaging 0.89 goals per game conceded.
Left Back
Ben Chilwell
Chilwell was hitting phenomenal form before World Cup bagging himself a goal and two assists in the Premier League, only to suffer a hamstring injury against Dynamo Zagreb in the Champions League.
The full back has been replaced by Manchester United’s left back Luke Shaw in the Three Lions squad.
Centre Back
Sergio Ramos
The 36 year old is one of the greatest centre backs of current generation has found himself left behind by Luis Enrique despite being fit and featuring for Paris St Germain 20 times this season.
Ramos won the World Cup in 2010 as well as featuring in the 2010 World Cup Dream Team. Many fans are baffled by this choice as such figure is staying at home.

Centre Back
Fikayo Tomori
Tomori who is heavily favoured by Maldini is shockingly left out by England’s Manager Gareth Southgate who has picked Eric Dier and Conor Coady ahead of AC Milan’s centre half.
The 24 year old completes 2.66 tackles on average per game which puts Tomori in top 4% centre backs in the World as well as completing more tackles than any other English Centre back this season. Many England fans have shown their disappointment with Southgate’s choice
Right Back
Reece James
Similarly to Tomori fellow English defender Reece James hasn’t been able to make it to the Qatar World Cup, however it is due to late knee injury picked up which set him back for eight weeks.
James averages 3.72 progressive passes a game which is amongst top 1% defenders in the World as well as averaging 2.08 tackles per game which ranks him as one of the top full backs in the world and a huge miss for the Three lions in Qatar
Centre Midfielder
Marco Reus

Although Reus has got 274 goal contributions in 368 games the German midfielder hasn’t had the best luck with country competitions, missing 2014 World Cup as well as 2016 and 2020 Euros
It’s a big miss for Germany as the experienced midfielder is an important figure to have around. The player also is a defensively strong unit averaging 1.8 tackles per game from attacking positions.
Centre Midfielder
Georginio Wijnaldum
Dutch midfielder captained Netherlands throughout the 2020 Euro’s. Even though the tournament didn’t go well for the team losing in an upset round of 16 tie against Czech Republic.
The player bagged himself three goals during the tournament proving his level at the national stage.
Centre Midfielder
N’golo Kante
The French midfielder won the previous World Cup in 2018 with fellow midfielder Paul Pogba who is also out with injury. The two provided a vital spine for France controlling games with ease.
Kante received two man of the match trophies within the tournament in 2018 showcasing his class at the tournament. Chelsea man successfully averages 2.5 interceptions per game which is in top 9% of midfielders across the globe.
Centre Forward
Roberto Firmino
Liverpool attacker is unfortunate to not feature in Adenor Leonardo Bacchi’s squad. Firmino has 13 goal contributions to Richarlison’s five, even despite Richarlison recently coming back from an injury.
Although the Reds have had a slow start to the season, Firmino has been the front runner of the goals each time he’s played and this seems to be unnoticed by the Brazilian manager.
Left Winger
Diogo Jota
Portuguese winger is a threat almost every time he plays, however the attacker has only managed to play 8 games so far due to serious hamstring injury which has prevented him from going to Qatar.
The player is expected to come back to training for Liverpool during their mid season camp in Dubai at the start of December.
Right Winger
Timo Werner
German attacker has picked up an ankle injury during a game against Shakhtar Donetsk in Champions League
Since coming back to RB Leipzig the player has proven to be goal threat linking up with fellow teammate and French international Christopher Nkunku. Werner has secured himself 13 goal contributions in 16 games which will be missed by the squad of Germany.
Abundance of talent is left behind us from Qatar World Cup, the biggest stage in the World is supposed to show the best of the best but due to many injuries or manager choices players get run out of luck.
A change is needed as players are dropping like flies from injuries. Players themselves believe that player welfare is not important enough.
The players will become fans, as they sit back and watch the greatest tournament in the world unfold.