PFA want an end to BOMB SQUAD banishments after it was revealed Chelsea have expelled as many as 13 first-team players – including Raheem Sterling and Ben Chilwell

The Professional Footballers’ Association wants the sport’s governing body to put an end to the bombing squads. They have lobbied the Premier League and FIFA to take tougher action against the union, which has been shocked by the growing use of the practice at Chelsea and beyond.

Suspensions from first-team training have become a recurring theme during transfer windows, with one PFA source even describing it as ‘unacceptable’.

While Chelsea are not the only club to have employed this tactic this summer, they came in for some of the most criticism when they told Raheem Sterling he would not be allowed to train under Enzo Maresca.

Sterling suffered the same fate as Trevoh Chalobah, Ben Chilwell and several others the Blues want to offload before Friday’s deadline.

Mail Sport understands the PFA has been in contact with Chelsea players and their representatives to offer help, as well as with exiles elsewhere in the country.

Raheem Sterling is one of the big names who has been forced to train away from the first team

The union cannot comment on specific clubs or cases, but where they are aware of a problem they try to proactively help find a solution to prevent escalation.

The PFA continues to actively work to deal with bomb squads in an appropriate manner. They believe that such situations should be prevented in the Premier League and further down the football pyramid.

The union has reportedly been campaigning behind the scenes for years and insiders remain unhappy about its dominance in professional sports.

It is felt that the Premier League Handbook, which acts as a contract between them and their members, is too vague on this point.

In the chapter ‘Player Duties and Obligations’, footballers are told that they ‘must be present at any reasonable place to take part in training and match preparation’.

They must also “maintain a high standard of physical fitness at all times,” which sources say is too open to interpretation.

The Premier League believes this is an area that falls under FIFA’s responsibility, but the international football governing body’s guidelines are communicated to all clubs.

FIFA has previously updated its rules on the ‘status and transfer of players’ to warn clubs against ‘abuse’. However, there is frustration that the practice is still prevalent despite the change in their literature.

Chelsea believe they have handled the bomber in the right way as the group is led by coach Carlo Cudicini

Ben Chilwell (left) and Trevoh Chalobah (right) have joined Sterling in the exile group

It could be a legally messy situation. Mail Sport knows of at least one Chelsea player who has been approached by lawyers wanting to explore his options, with PFA general counsel James King questioning whether the practice breaches employment law.

Chelsea believe they have handled this summer in the appropriate manner by allowing their exiles to train together in a specific group led by their on-loan technical coach Carlo Cudicini, rather than telling them to join the youngsters.

They are convinced that this will allow them to focus on their future and that the chance that they will live in the false hope of a postponement of the competition under Maresca will be reduced.

Mail Sport revealed last week that Chelsea had a whopping 13 players in their Bombers squad, consisting of Sterling, Chilwell, Chalobah, Armando Broja, Romelu Lukaku, Kepa Arrizabalaga, David Datro Fofana, Angelo, Lucas Bergstrom, Deivid Washington, Tino Anjorin, Alex Matos and Harvey Vale.