Cole was speaking on a range of current topics with Paddy Power, when he was asked if Chelsea's poor disciplinary record could be attributed to their exploits in this summer's Club World Cup. The player-turned-pundit did not connect those dots, but he did give an impassioned rant on the excessive workload of the modern player. Something he feels is worsening the overall product.
"I think the situation with Chelsea's ill-discipline was just bad decision making at times in games which can happen. Injuries though, yeah 100%," said Cole.
"I think if you look at PSG, I watched their game the other night and they had 5 or 6, starters out [injured] against Barcelona. They still won, but Manchester City have had players injured, Chelsea have. So absolutely 100%.
"Some fans might listen to this, players playing too much, getting injured, and go 'Yeah, but you get paid a lot of money.' And yes from that framework, players do get paid a lot of money to play. But what I'm saying is, you go to watch these Champions League, Premier League games because you want to see something you can't see on the parks at the weekend. You want to see the best of the best playing. When you play players like this - keep flogging them - their levels come down because that's normal. So, the fans are not getting the best product because it's saturated.
"Then you lose players – Rodri springs to mind - done his knee, missed him for a year. Will Rodri be the same Rodri ever again? That's a Ballon d'Or winner. You're not getting the best players, you're just flogging it, and it's done for financial reasons, nothing else. I think football should be treated as sacred. It should be something where it's not just flog the horse to make money. It’s ride the horse at the right time. Bring it together - brilliant games, beautiful games, the best should be playing the best.
"The PSG game - five players missing, for instance against Barcelona. If that's the final and 50% of the best team in the world [PSG] are missing because of injuries, it's a direct correlation between overplay and injury. It's too simple to say, 'they’re footballers, they get paid to play'. Footballers will play, but we want the best. You want to see the best version of [Ousmane] Dembele, the best [Lamine] Yamal. You don't want to see players playing at 50, 60, 70%. You want to see them at their best because we love football."
