Erling Haaland and Mohamed Salah’s brilliant early-season form illustrates why footballers must get proper rest periods, players’ union chief Maheta Molango has said.

In their first three Premier League matches of the 2024-25 campaign, Manchester City striker Haaland has scored seven times and Liverpool forward Salah has three goals and three assists.

Neither player featured in post-season major tournaments and were highlighted as case studies by Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) chief executive Molango as a new player workload monitoring (PWM) report of 1,500 footballers by global union Fifpro was released on Thursday.

“There is a big difference between players who have holidays or not,” Molango said. “One difference is from England in Haaland. He is back to the machine he was when he first joined us in England, similar to Mo Salah, he is the best version of Mo.”

The latest research into ongoing concerns about a crowded global football calendar comes amid legal action against world governing body Fifa being taken by organisations including the PFA and Fifpro.

Molango says Fifpro has “red lines” on player welfare which are:

A maximum of between 50 and 60 matches per season, depending on a player’s age.

A maximum of five or six weeks’ worth of consecutive back-to-back matches – which are defined as two or more games in a single week.

A mandatory minimum off-season rest period of three weeks.

Molango added: “We need to protect the players from themselves. They love playing, because they are committed to playing… and they don’t want to lose their starting spot.

“For us it’s alarming when you hear [Real Madrid coach Carlo] Ancelotti saying ‘I may need to give players time out during the season’. I, as a fan, pay 100% of a season ticket. I may end up in a situation where I don’t see 100% cent of the show, I see a fraction of it.”