Aston Villa boss Dean Smith joins calls for football to introduce concussion substitutes

The issue of how the sport deals with head injuries has come into sharp focus following the horrifying clash between Raul Jimenez and David Luiz during Wolves’ 2-1 win at Arsenal last weekend.

While Wolves striker Jimenez suffered a fractured skull, Gunners defender Luiz played on for 40 minutes with a cut to the head before being taken off at half-time.

The Brazil international was assessed by Arsenal’s medical staff at the time of the incident, who insist they followed all concussion protocols.

But there are now increased calls for a change to the game’s laws which would allow a temporary substitution and provide doctors time to carry out a more thorough assessment.

A scheme could be trialled in the Premier League as early as January provided the International Football Association Board grant approval this month.

Smith said: “First and foremost we wish Raul Jimenez a speedy recovery and our thoughts are with him.

“I am for concussion subs. There has been an awful lot said about the assessment criteria and I’m led to believe our criteria is no different to that of rugby or cricket.

“We have some of the best medical practitioners in the world who are going onto the pitch to attend to these players and credit to both the Wolves doctor and the Arsenal doctor, who dealt with their players really well.

“But if we have a concussion sub it would give us a lot longer to go and assess players.

“Their welfare is the most important aspect and it is something that should be brought in very soon.”

Smith, who played nearly 700 matches as a centre-back, believes the sport has previously been too “macho” in the way it deals with head injuries.

He continued: “Part and parcel of my game was heading and I got banged a few times on the head.

“Sometimes I wobbled off, sometimes I went off and said ‘yep, I’m fine’ and ready to go back on when I probably wasn’t at my game.

“The game has changed now. We know a lot more so the tendency now is to be safer.

“We don’t need players to be macho with the increase in subs that we’ve got anyway, with seven to choose from – when I was playing it was probably only three and sometimes one so it was a necessity then, it’s not a necessity now.

“The welfare and the health of the players is paramount so let’s get them assessed and bring them off if need be.

“If a concussion sub certainly helps us protect people more, then we’re all for it.

“I don’t think you’re going to see the likes of Paul Ince with the blood-soaked headband and Terry Butcher with a blood-soaked headband anymore because we don’t need to and it’s right that we don’t need to see them now.

“That was another era and we’ve moved into a different one where we won’t need to see it, we can actually bring these players off and get them looked after.”