Wojciech Szczesny has spoken out about the need for more psychological training aimed at footballers’ mental health.
The goalkeeper has played for some prestigious clubs, including Arsenal and AS Roma.
Now number one at Juventus, he hopes things have improved on the psychological side of the game.
However, that has not been the case, and he says more needs to be done because players need to be in the right frame of mind as much as they need to be physically fit to do their job.
The Pole said, quoted by Soccer Italy:
“It is absurd that in 2022 professional clubs do not have mandatory mental training for players. Interview any player and they will tell you that 70% of performance is in their head.
“And 100% of the mandatory training instead is physical. There are psychologists at the clubs and the players can use their services if they want, but there is no mandatory mental training.”
Juve FC says
Soccer players are like any other human being and go through mental stress and episodes that can affect their performance.
All clubs should care about what happens in the lives of their players as much as their performance.
Most of them already have psychologists, but as Szczesny has pointed out, much remains to be done.
