Manchester United and Chelsea players break holiday rules by returning from World Cup early

Jose Mourinho, the United manager, has called on others to follow the examples set by Marcus Rashford and Phil Jones

Phil Jones and Marcus Rashford will both return from their off-season break early (Getty)

Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford and Phil Jones and Chelsea’s Ruben Loftus-Cheek may be in breach of their own contracts by cutting their holidays short and returning to club duty early after the World Cup.

A report by The Times on Tuesday notes that a clause in the standard player contract drawn up by the Professional Footballers’ Association entitles all players to a break of “five weeks in aggregate over the year, of which three weeks may be consecutive.”

Rashford and Jones will join up with United on Wednesday – just two-and-a-half weeks after flying home from England duty as beaten World Cup semi-finalists on 15 July.

Loftus-Cheek, another member of Gareth Southgate’s squad in Russia, is also back in club action already, having trained under new manager Maurizio Sarri on Monday.

There is no suggestion that Rashford, Jones or Loftus-Cheek were pressured into cutting their holiday short.

However, Jose Mourinho, the United manager, has publicly called on the likes of Paul Pogba, Romelu Lukaku and Jesse Lingard – all involved in the latter stages of the World Cup – to follow the examples of Rashford and Jones and “help the team” by returning early.

Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva, meanwhile, admitted to cutting his holiday short on Pep Guardiola’s request last week, though his return to training came a full three weeks after Portugal’s round of 16 elimination to Uruguay.

FIFPro, the world football players’ union, expressed concerns on Tuesday that too many players were not enjoying a sufficient off-season break.

The union claims that at least 15 World Cup participants had played in a Uefa competition within four weeks of returning from Russia.

“Players are coming under too much pressure, caught between the needs of their clubs and their own personal well-being,” the union said in a statement.

“While FIFPro understands the financial implications of the Uefa Champions League and Uefa Europa League for clubs, the health of these players is being put at risk because of such a congested match schedule.”

FIFPro is currently lobbying for the introduction of a mandatory four-week rest period, between the final game of one season and the start of pre-season training for the next.