Top 5 Football Careers Ruined by Injury
5 football players who had their careers ruined by injuries
The third time’s a charm… I think. ANYWAYS, we return with (surprise, surprise) another top-five list and this time we break down the best five players in football that have had their careers ruined by injury.
DISCLAIMER: I’m not responsible for the anger of any reader who wholly disagrees with any of my choices
5. Andy Carroll
Yes, I know you didn’t expect to see Newcastle’s Andy Carroll on this list, but I think the 6’4 striker has a compelling case to be included.
Carroll’s first full campaign as a starter for Newcastle was in their title-winning campaign of 2009/10 to win promotion from the Championship back into the Premier League after a year out.
Carroll was Newcastle’s top scorer with 17 goals and continued his rise the season after with 11 goals in 19 Premier League games in the 2010/11 season. At this time, Carroll was an England international and poised to be the future of England’s frontline and a throwback to the physical and aerial threat of strikers back in the day.
A £35 million move to Liverpool in the January transfer window made Carroll the most expensive British player of all time and while he was unsuccessful on Merseyside, he was given a new home in East London as he permanently made the move to West Ham in 2013/14.
Carroll was still only 25 years old at this time, but injuries soon hit the big man and slowly took their toll as he managed just 29 league appearances in his first two seasons at West ham and managed to play over 20 league games just twice in his West Ham career.
Carroll was unplayable on his day, but constant knee and ankle injuries diminished what was a promising future for the striker.
4. Abou Diaby
The Frenchman was brought to Arsenal in 2006 as the successor to Patrick Vieira and he shared many of the same attributes as the former Arsenal captain, so much so that Abou Diaby was named ‘the next Patrick Vieira.’
Diaby remains one of the unluckiest footballers I’ve ever set eyes and not just due to the injuries but the fact that they prevented a truly wonderful footballer from showcasing his abilities.
Despite his lanky frame, Diaby was a talented dribbler who could glide through midfield and assist the attack.
Diaby played just 39 league games in his first three years at Arsenal. He did play a career-high 29 league games in the 2009/10 and 40 games in all competitions, but things once again began to go downhill for the midfielder, who appeared in just 32 league appearances in his last five years at the club.
Sadly, Abou Diaby never really got started and after five appearances in two years for Marseille, the former French international hung up his boots at the age of 30.
3. Alexandre Pato
Alexandre Pato is 33. That’s it.
It just blows my mind that a player we’ve been hearing about since 2007 is just 33 years old, an age where some players come into their prime.
Sadly, for Alexandre Pato, it’s the curse of the Benjamin Button disease for the Brazilian.
Pato made an instant impact at AC Milan after signing in 2007. He scored nine goals in 20 games in his first season and followed that up with 18 goals in 42 games as he was rewarded with both the Golden Boy and Serie A Young Footballer of the Year.
Pato was reminiscent of Michael Owen in terms of his pace and instinctual movement as a striker and he soon became a league champion after leading Milan to the summit with 14 goals in 25 games, ending the season as their joint-top scorer.
After all this, Pato was still just 21 years old. You can just imagine the hype that surrounded him and the potential that was attainable.
However, things never got better as injuries meant he made just 11 appearances in the league the season after with just one goal. He made just four appearances the season after before departing Milan to return to Brazil with Corinthians.
Since then, the forward has bounced from Brazil to England with a short stint at Chelsea, to China, and back to Brazil with Sao Paulo before agreeing to terminate his contract.
It's a sad story for a player who had the world at his feet at such a young age unable to fulfil what clearly was his destiny.
2. Daniel Sturridge
This is a personal one for me being a Liverpool fan, I only know too well the potential Daniel Sturridge had to become one of the best strikers in the game and how that plan was brutally curtailed due to injury.
Sturridge made the move to Liverpool in January 2013 from Chelsea as a 23-year-old hungry to become a regular starter and boy did he become that.
10 goals in 14 league appearances meant Sturridge began his Liverpool career in impervious form but the season after is when the real magic happened.
The former England striker netted 21 goals for Liverpool as they narrowly missed out on the Premier League title in what was a heartbreaking season for Liverpool fans but one of the most exhilarating they’d experienced.
His partnership with Luis Suarez was unplayable in most games and Sturridge introduced himself as one of the best strikers in the league with his performances, and with Suarez leaving in the summer of 2014 to head to Barcelona, it was Sturridge’s time to make Liverpool ‘his team’.
However, the cruel fate of injury had different plans and Sturridge was resigned to just 12 league appearances in the 2014/15 season and 14 appearances in the 2015/16 season.
The injuries physically changed Sturridge as a player. The continuous muscle injuries he suffered meant he longer possessed the pace that allowed him to race in behind defences and score goals, a mode of scoring Sturridge thrived on in the 2013/14 season.
And with that came a lesser reliance on Sturridge and his inability to fit into Jurgen Klopp's philosophy. In his later years at the club, Sturridge was no more than an impact sub who struggled to do just that; he scored seven combined goals in 47 league games in his final three years at Liverpool.
Sturridge could have and should have been one of the best strikers in Europe, but some players just can’t fight off injuries.
1. Jack Wilshere
At just 19 years of age, Jack Wilshere put on an all-time great performance against Barcelona in a 2-1 win for Arsenal.
The Englishman ran the show at the Emirates and outshone the likes of Xavi and Andres Iniesta, two of the greatest midfielders of this generation.
Arsenal and England were looking at a future star and leader for club and country.
Wilshere earned the PFA Young Player of the Year award and was selected to the 2010-11 PFA Team of the Year at 20 years of age.
A stress fracture ankle injury heading into the 2011-12 season began the injury merry-go-round for Wilshere who was to suffer damaging injuries specifically to his ankle during his career.
After playing 49 games in all competitions in the 2010-11 season, Wilshere completely missed the 2011-12 season and while he did play 25 and 24 league games in the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons, injuries meant Wilshere could never have a long run of games to impress and consistency was always an issue.
He made just three league appearances in 2015-16 before going out on loan to Bournemouth the season after.
At 29, Wilshere joined Bournemouth on a permanent deal after being a free agent for more than five months and what should be the prime of his career is being spent in the Sky Bet Championship.
Based on talent alone, Wilshere is one of the greatest England has ever produced and much like Sturridge, club, and country were robbed of two players that could have defined a generation.
