In the women’s game, there is the added complication of explaining the absences of pregnant players before they are ready to reveal their happy, but personal, news to the world.

Chelsea used German international Melanie Leupolz contracting Covid-19 in the early weeks of her pregnancy to explain her extended time out of action, with even her fellow players not being aware of the real reason why she was missing.

“I told staff members who needed to know and we kept it as a secret from the team for a long time – I think it was almost the third or fourth month,” Leupolz told Sky Sports in 2023. “I was still training, but we could use Covid as an excuse for why I’m not really in training sessions, having contact and doing that stuff.”

Medical privacy is certainly one compelling argument to justify a manager hiding the reason for a player’s absence. Mark Robins, shortly before his departure from Coventry City, even cited data protection laws as a reason for him not being able to answer team news questions, although that may have been tongue-in-cheek.

There are, however, plenty of good reasons why managers and media officers need to be economical with the truth to protect their employees.

“Sometimes, players would be out for other reasons,” said an experienced former communications chief at Premier League clubs who spoke on condition of anonymity to protect relationships. “He might have had a death in the family, but you wouldn’t want to say that publicly for obvious reasons.

“And you wouldn’t advise the manager to say the player is out for ‘personal reasons’ because that leaves a void of information which people then fill with speculation.

“So in that situation, you might advise the manager to say the player is unavailable because of a slight knock so at least you’re being upfront and saying, ‘He’s not going to play’.”

And there are times when revealing the truth could have financial ramifications. Shortly after Omar Richards signed for Nottingham Forest from Bayern Munich in the summer of 2022, it became clear that he had arrived with a hairline fracture in his leg that would keep him out for a considerable time even though he had been able to train through the pain.

Conscious that they were in negotiations with Huddersfield Town to sign another defender, Harry Toffolo, Forest knew that news of Richards’ misfortune leaking could push up the asking price for Toffolo.

As reported in July 2023, the then Forest media team posted photographs of Richards training on social media and the injured player was even named on the substitutes’ bench for a pre-season friendly against Hertha Berlin while talks over Toffolo and Huddersfield team-mate Lewis O’Brien continued. The pair eventually signed for a combined £10 million.

The phenomenon of hiding the extent of injuries extends beyond the Premier League, where a host of managers have been found to have tried to keep the truth from opponents.

In Major League Baseball, the Houston Astros were forced in September to admit that outfielder Kyle Tucker had suffered a fractured shin after previously announcing the injury as a shin contusion, although the Astros claimed the true nature of the injury was only discovered when swelling had receded.

Several US sports have rules in place designed to ensure transparency over injuries, but the regulations do not prevent misinformation. Last month, the Philadelphia 76ers were fined $100,000 (£792,000) by the NBA for misrepresenting why star centre Joel Embiid is not currently playing.

And just last week, Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni seemed to reveal that Jalen Hurts was suffering from an ankle injury, despite the quarterback being officially listed by the Eagles as missing training due to needing “rest”. He then backtracked later in his press conference.

The National Hockey League has adopted a policy of announcing injuries only as upper or lower body in a move designed to inform supporters of availability but prevent ruthless opponents from targeting existing weaknesses during games. The Toronto Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews, for example, is currently sidelined but the public only knows that he has an upper-body issue.

The move takes responsibility for injury information out of coaches’ hands but, in reality, more specific details often leak out.

Mandated injury transparency was introduced in part to ensure full disclosure for sports gamblers. It is a move not yet mooted in the UK, but accurate injury news is becoming increasingly important in a landscape where Fantasy Football games are growing in popularity.

“A large proportion of my audience will come at it from a Fantasy Football perspective and, for that audience, the Fantasy Football element will almost trump their own team,” Ben Dinnery, injury analyst and founder of the Premier Injuries YouTube channel, said.

“I see a lot of conversations about having the level of transparency that they have in the United States. If it’s a high-profile or important player who disappears from a team sheet with no inkling or sign, that is really frustrating for supporters, especially Fantasy Football ones.

“They would prefer a bit of a heads-up that a player is having issues or needs a late fitness test so they have some idea.

“But there is always a get-out-of-jail-free card for every manager after a press conference, where you have that 24-48-hour period where a player can pick up a knock, go down ill or have an adverse reaction if they’re coming back from an injury.”

Many fans, and probably all journalists, may prefer full disclosure from coaches about player availability. But the reality is that the stakes are too high for that to ever be a feature of managerial press conferences – unless, of course, you’re Marcelo Bielsa.

• The Athletic report