Footie Central | Football Blog Blogging the football world
Contuining the series about players whose careers were either ended by injuries, or sho failed to realise their true potential because of them. For Part One, please click here.
Owen Hargreaves
Own Hargreaves was, by his own admission, one of the worst signings that Alex Ferguson made as Manchester United manager.
But it was not meant to be that way for the midfielder, who had enjoyed a stellar career with Bayern Munich, with whom he won four league title, three German Cups, and the Champions League.
In 2006 he was England’s Player of the Tournament in the World Cup of that year, and, in 2007, he joined United for a fee of £17 million.
Unfortunately, that also coincided with the injuries that would blight the rest of his year.
Hargreaves himself attributed them to the after-effects following the breaking if his leg, with muscles in the affected leg weaker than before. Ignoring the pain Hargreaves attempted to play, with detrimental long-term effects. He missed more than two years of football and, when he did return, limped off after just six minutes.
United chose not to renew his contract because of his injury issues, and he moved across Manchester to join neighbours City. However, he ;played just four games for them before quitting the game.
Alf-Inge Häland
Fans of Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haäland may not realise that his father, Alf-Inge also enjoyed a successful career before it was derailed by injury.
The midfielder, who would play for Norway 34 times, began life with local club before moving to Nottingham Forest, and then joined Leeds United.
In 2000 he joined Manchester City and it was whilst playing for them that he was involved in an infamous incident with United captain Roy Keane. Angered by on field criticism that he had received from Häland three and a half years earlier, Keane deliberately assaulted him, kicking him high on his right knee.
The injury might have been even worse had his leg not been off the ground at the time. Already suffering with problems with his other knee, Häland struggled to regain fitness, and, after undergoing surgery, City decided not to renew his contract.
He briefly came out of retirement to play third-tier Norwegian football, but then hang up his boots a year later.
Daniel Sturridge
Although Daniel Sturridge is still playing the game, a long string of injuries mean that he has never fulfilled his one potential.
Everywhere he has been, the striker has been forced to miss weeks of football, which also means that his international career stalled.
During his time with Chelsea, he did win the League title, the FA Cup twice and the Champions League, and also won the Champions League again with Liverpool, but, in each case, it was as a member of the squad, and not in the starring role he would have liked.
He is currently a free agent after serving a worldwide ban for breaching betting rules.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.