Ipswich Town attacker Sammie Szmodics isn’t concerned about fixture congestion in elite football, stressing that playing regularly is what he enjoys.

There’s been a lot of discussion about whether players are involved in too many games, leading to burnout and injury. A major voice in this debate has been Manchester City midfielder Rodri, who refused to rule out the possibility of a strike. The Spaniard has since been ruled out for the season after suffering ligament damage in his right knee.

While Szmodics doesn’t take part in European competitions such as the Champions League, he is a Premier League regular and a senior international for the Republic of Ireland.

Ultimately, he enjoys playing for club and country and is adamant that he wouldn’t change the schedule.

“It’s what we love doing, we love playing football,” he said. “At 28, I probably love playing football even more than I did at 20.

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“To represent Ireland is massive for me and my family, so I’ll never complain about playing games of football.”

One aspect of the Premier League that he does enjoy is that the fixtures are spread out. In the EFL, there are a plethora of midweek games that can cause significant congestion in the schedule, but the top flight is different.

This allows for more time between matches, allowing Szmodics and his team-mates to train and prepare for what’s to come.

“In the Championship, you often play Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday. Then you have a cup game thrown in there,” he explained.

“It’s a very intense schedule, and there’s not a lot of time to train on the grass. It’s more playing a game, recovering, having a day off and then going back into a game again.

“You get weeks between games where you can really focus on the opposition as opposed to the Championship, where it’s just game after game.

“We get a lot more time on the grass for the tactical side of things and a lot more time to recover.”