The first weekend of the English Championship season saw many North Americans return to action, but not Daniel Jebbison—and Preston North End manager Paul Heckingbottom was incensed about it.
While Preston picked up a 1–1 draw against Queens Park Rangers, Heckingbottom was unable to call on his new star striker, as the Canadian international picked up an injury while working with a personal trainer away from the squad.
Now, the 21-year-old is expected to be out for up to a month.
“I’m really angry about that,” Heckingbottom told the BBC. “There’s a growing trend of footballers to work with people from outside. It’s an accident, I get it, but it’s not happening anymore with any Preston players.”
Although Jebbison has dealt with significant injuries in the past during his time with AFC Bournemouth, the latest comes due to the extra work taken with personal trainer Tom King, who regularly tags Jebbison in workout videos on Instagram.
King also has posted workouts with American defender Marlon Fossey, who plays with Standard Liege in Belgium, as well as English international Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who now plays his club football with Besiktas in Turkiyë.
“These guys work with these players and they post their work all over social media and they want to promote their business,” Heckingbottom added. “They're happy to take the money, but they don't give us any money back when they injure the players in their sessions.
“They’ll not be posting on social media that Jebbo’s out for a month, so I’ll tell everyone that when they work with players they can put them out as well.”
The trend of players seeking outside help has been growing in recent years, and superstars across the world regularly feature in social media content while working out with highly-regarded trainers.
However, Heckingbottom urged that he has nothing against the extra work, but only concerns about the level of care towards athletes earning significant wages paid for by their clubs.
“I’m not having a go at Jebbo,” he added about the four-time Canadian international. “If they signed a piece of paper saying they’d cover his wages if they injured him, they can go with him every day. If they signed a piece of paper saying, ‘Yeah, we’ve got insurance that covers this, or we’re getting a new striker,’ no problem, work with him as much as you want. But they’re not... they have no accountability.”
Preston’s next match in the Championship comes against Leicester City on Aug. 16, while Jebbison will hope to return to the Canadian squad for friendlies in September against Wales and Romania.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as English Manager Furious With ‘Social Media’ Trainers After Canadian Star Injured .