One has to feel sorry for Craig Gordon. Were it not for his injury woes, who knows what he could have achieved in the game? Seven years ago, he had the world at his feet as a 24 year old goalkeeper with agile reflexes and a command of his penalty area. Having excelled for an impressive Hearts side in the Scottish Premier League, he earned himself a blockbuster £9 million move to Roy Keane's Sunderland to spear-guard their first season back in the top-flight. At the time, it was the British record fee paid for a goalkeeper, and wouldn't be eclipsed for another four years, until Manchester United shelled out £17 million for David de Gea. How much bad luck can one player have? Sidelined for several months due to a knee injury in his second season, he spent three months out with a broken arm during the 09/10 campaign, before receiving surgery in the summer to remove a metal plate. However, that has only begun to scratch the surface. He missed the beginning of the 10/11 campaign having fractured his arm during a training session, before being struck down by a tendon injury in his knees a couple of months after his comeback. In April 2011, it had been revealed that the Scotsman had undergone knee surgery to repair his knee tendon and an anterior cruciate ligament injury. Patience was running thin, however, and with Simon Mignolet's reputation growing, Kieron Westwood was bought to seemingly edge Gordon out of the frame. He didn't play another game for the club, and was released at the end of the 11/12 season. Now at Celtic, it took him two years to find work, as he continued to be plagued by knee injuries. Life seems to be working out for Gordon at the moment, but it's a big shame for the 31 year old with the way his career has progressed, or rather how it hasn't. In five seasons for the Black Cats, he made 88 Premier League appearances, before struggling to find work for two years, before returning to the same league that he had left seven years ago to further his ambitions. Shame. So that's a wrap - what do you think? Have there been any obvious omissions? Should the likes of Fabio Borini made this list for effectively ruining the club's transfer window, or what about the nightmarish visions of Paul McShane? Maybe even a shout for Phil Bardsley, simply for laughing at the club on Twitter at the start of last season? As always, feel free to leave your thoughts and opinions in the comment section below.
Recent Journalism & New Media graduate. Insatiable thirst for all things football, and hopes to break into the field of sports journalism in the near future.
Have made a significantly insignificant playing career out of receiving several slaps around the head for not passing the ball.
