5 English Footballers Whose Careers Were Wrecked By Injuries

1. Ledley King

The man described by Thierry Henry as his toughest opponent, and as a 'freak' by then Spurs manager Harry Redknapp because of his ability to play at Premier League level despite not being able to train with the first team, Ledley King was considered one of the best defenders in Europe. A product of Spurs' academy, King spent his whole career at White Hart Lane and ended up making over 300 appearances at club level, plus another 21 for England's senior side. At a glance, the stats don't seem to reflect just how badly his injuries affected his appearance record. Consider, though, that a Premier League campaign is 38 games long, and King rarely made more than 30 appearances in all competitions throughout his career; a player of his class in a side of Spurs' quality, especially in a central defensive role where the consistency of partnerships is key, would usually expect to play pretty much every league game and a fair chunk of cup matches. What so ruthlessly derailed his career, forcing him to train alone and only play once a week at the very most, was a chronic knee condition. It mystified the club's doctors, and Redknapp explained in an interview that there was nothing that could be done to cure it. Instead, King would play a game and rest it for a week, only going to the gym to keep himself "ticking over". It is testament to his immense talent that his manager wanted to keep him at Spurs even despite being able to manage only 20-or-so games a season. King is often compared favourably to the likes of Bobby Moore (widely considered England's best-ever defender) and Rio Ferdinand, and by watching him play, it is easy to see why. Combining the uncompromising attitude of a no-nonsense centre-half with the intelligence to read the game and position himself and his teammates accordingly, as well as calmness and authority with and without the ball, it is no exaggeration that to say that Ledley King is one of the best defenders the Premier League has ever seen, and would undoubtedly have gone down in history as one of the best of all time had it not been for his depressingly unfortunate knee injury. Needless to say, the England national side would have benefited massively from his regular inclusion, but, sadly, this was not to be. Inevitably, King was forced to retire from playing at the end of the 2012 season, but has since taken up an ambassadorial role at Spurs. So, that concludes this list. Considering that all of these players are roughly the same age, it is quite feasible that had they not been the victims of hugely unfortunate injuries, they could all have been mainstays in England's senior side. Just how this would have changed England's fortunes, however, will forever remain a matter of speculation.