Good suggestions here, I’ll go more off-field with Fernando Torres, persistent hamstring injuries and rushing back from an knee injury when he wasn’t close to being ready did him in for good.
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Yep, King was immense. Even Henry said he was his toughest opponent, and I always had a feeling he was the only defender in the league who could really handle Henry one on one back in his prime. For me he was absolutely a bigger talent, and when healthy a better defender than Ferdinand.
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I think Kaka was immense for a while and i think we might have seen much more out of him if he managed to stay fit.
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Holger Badstuber. The guy must have the record of most season ending injuries. Yet he’s always managed to come back and he’s only 31 years old. No doubt he would be one of the best defenders today without those injuries.
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Anyone remember Sebastian Deisler?
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Liverpool fans complained about his build up play being none existant
How about Fowler, more prolific with a way better shot than Owen and some unreal goals but faded massively a few years into his career
Not even closeeee
MAAAAAAAAAAAAAARIO GOETZE
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Götze is a decent shout doc but he only had the potential to be like the German Messi or something, not like Abou who clearly was a god walking on earth except for his vulnerability to injuries
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Owen Hargreaves
Rosicky
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Agreed. He was a genius and while he had an excellent career, he never recovered from those knee injuries. It’s scary to imagine how good he would have been had he been at his physical best throughout his career.
Good shout
Jack Wilshere surely has to be right up there.
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Wilshere without a doubt. Haven’t seen a 19 yr old like him since.
Diaby would have been a player too.
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Francis Jeffers…must have been dropped on his head as a baby!
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I don’t quite buy the Diaby hype to be honest with you. I don’t remember seeing much between the period of 2008-2010 that made me think he was this mercurial talent that some will have you believe.
We got nearly 100 games out of him in about a 2.5 year period and he was hugely inconsistent in that period.
Unless the argument is that the first major injury he suffered was what ruined him? In which case I guess we’ll never know.
I do think the hype behind him is hugely unjustified though
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His first major injury was on the very serious scale, so I don’t think we’ll ever know how good he could have been given he suffered the injury so young.
A lot of people thought he was a bit of an idiot.
He started that game like someone on speed, running around tackling like he was Roy Keane, when he is supposed to be a skilful attacking player.
It was just before he signed for Lazio and he went there already injured.
A lot their supporters weren’t impressed because he used to go out with his mates and was often seen drinking in bars, which isn’t something Italian players do that much and he didn’t bother learning any Italian either.
He was fairly successful for Lazio but, as we have seen recently, he has real mental problems and his erratic behaviour and drink problems have seen him end up the way he has.
From the 70s was without doubt a great loss would be Kevin Beattie.
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Pato is another one.
And to an extent, even Alessandro Nesta had a horrible injury record. He never got his chance to shine on the international stage due to injuries so in 2006 when Cannavaro got all the plaudits (and rightly so, he was incredible) - Nesta was probably the better defender who got injured early and had to sit the rest of the tournament out.
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