5 talented Premier League midfielders who had their careers hampered by injuries

One of the most heart-wrenching sites in football is that of a player writhing around the floor in pain due to injury. It is a site which freezes the game, as players and fans of even opposition teams rally around the injured player, wishing, praying, hoping for him/her to get up and play on.

An even more pathetic scene is when said injury is responsible for a long layoff, and the worst of all comes when the player in question happens to be a very talented player crucial to his team's aspirations.

Injuries are a sad reality of the game, and nobody prays for it to happen to an opponent, except the vile minded Roy Keane, who confessed that he set out to purposely injure Alf-Inge Haaland.

No footballer ever truly recovers from an injury, more so if the injury was very serious, as the trauma associated with going under the knife for an operation remains, and the results is that when they return, a part of their body has been forever damaged, hence they play with more caution than before.

Some players have been forced to retire due to injury, as when a particular part of the body becomes a recurring target of tear, it is in the best interest of the player to call it quits and hang his/her boots.

This is a fear Manchester City fans would have, as Kevin De Bruyne who had missed most of the season so far got ruled out once again for 4-6 weeks after injuring his other knee in the League Cup clash with Fulham.

The Belgian is the premier midfielder in the EPL, and arguably the most creative player in all of Europe, hence City fans and indeed all lovers of football would be keen that this is not the start of something which would ruin the career of such a talented midfielder as was the case of so many others before him.

Here we profile five Premier League midfielders who had their careers blighted by injury.

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#5 Michael Johnson

Michael Johnson (L) was one of the brightest prospects from the Manchester City academy

One of the brightest lights in the Manchester City academy in the middle of the last decade, Michael Johnson made the step up from Platt Lane (the youth ground) to the first team, making his debut for Manchester City in October 2006.

A highly technical midfielder, Johnson was highly rated for his box to box ability and knack for scoring goals, and it was widely expected that he would be the next big thing for England in midfield.

He truly broke out in the latter part of the season, making seven consecutive appearances in the league for the Cityzens until a hamstring injury ruled him out of the season.

This was the start of the injury problems for the young, talented player, as abdominal, hamstring and knee injuries limited his on-field contributions, and he would go on to play just 37 Premier League matches for Manchester City before he was officially released by the club in 2013 aged just 24.

The abrupt end to what was a once-promising career was lamented by a number of people associated with Johnson including former England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson who noted that everyone thought he would be the next big thing for England and former teammate Dietmar Hamann who compared him to German great Michael Ballack.

#4 Abou Diaby

Abou Diaby was touted as the next Patrick Viera

After impressing in Ligue One with Auxerre, it didn’t come as too much of a surprise when Arsenal swooped in for his signature in January 2006.

Athletic, languid and possessing box to box qualities, Diaby was highly rated for his dribbling and passing skills and was seen by many to be the natural heir to former captain and Highbury legend Patrick Viera, as Diaby possessed a similar skill set to his compatriot.

After impressing early on in his Arsenal career, Diaby began to suffer injury setbacks from 2010, and was rarely fit for long enough to make a string of appearances to make an impact in the Gunners first team, with the height of it coming in the 2011/2012 season where he made just five substitute appearances in all competitions.

A rupture to his left Anterior Cruciate Ligament in 2013 all but ended his career, as he struggled for game time, returning back to the operating room almost immediately after returning until he was released by Arsenal in 2015.

He went on to Marseille but only made his first league start in April 2016 almost three years after he last started for Arsenal in the Premier League, and made just four appearances for the club in his first season back in France and only two in the next campaign. After being released by Marseille due to his niggling injury problems, Diaby is currently a free agent, which is a sad end to a player who promised so much more.

#3 Ryan Mason

Ryan Mason suffered a horrific head injury in a Premier League clash with Chelsea

Ryan Mason is a former midfielder who made a name for himself at Tottenham with whom he made 53 Premier League appearances.

After struggling to nail a first-team spot in the Spurs squad and enduring multiple loans out to other English clubs, Mason became a mainstay in the Tottenham team in 2013 under Tim Sherwood and went on to make his Englan debut in 2015.

After being deemed surplus to requirements by new boss Mauricio Pochettino following the arrival of Dele Alli, Mason was transferred to Hull City for a club record fee of £13m, and had a fine start to life at the KCom Stadium until a nasty head-on collision with Gary Cahill in a Premier League clash in January 2017 ruled him out for the season.

After battling to recover from the injury for almost a year, Mason retired from football over a year later in February 2018 aged just 27 citing medical advice.

In a recent interview, Mason admitted he still lives with immense pain over 18 months after the injury and revealed that he moves with 14 metal plates and 28 screws in his skull.

#2 Jack Wilshere

Wilshere has been an injury-prone player for the last seven seasons

Outclassing Xavi and Iniesta in midfield of a Champions League knockout clash at the tender age of 19, but struggling to break into the West Ham starting eleven seven years later, where did it all go wrong for the man touted to be the next Paul Gascoigne?

Wilshere made his Premier League debut for Arsenal in 2008 aged just 16 years and 256 days, becoming the club’s youngest ever Premier League debutant in history in the process.

He truly broke out in the 2010/2011 season, and earned worldwide praise for his performance against two of the greatest midfielders of all time in a showing which belied his age, also becoming England’s 10th youngest player ever, and was duly recognised, as he was named the PFA Young Player of the Year and was voted into the PFA Team of the Year.

In the runup to the start of the 2011/2012 season, Wilshere had a stress fracture on his right ankle in a pre-season friendly with New York Red Bulls and was ruled out for the rest of the season, which marked the beginning of his downward spiral.

He was named Arsenal skipper in the increasing absence of Thomas Vermaelen at the age of just 21, which was a testament to how highly he was placed in the squad.

However, for all of his potential, Wilshere struggled to stay fit for long periods of time and found himself increasingly out of the first-team picture at Emirates, which prompted a loan move to Bournemouth in 2016, which ended in April 2017 after a fibula injury.

He returned to Arsenal at the start of the 2017/2018 season, and made his first start for the club in over 16 months in a League Cup clash with Doncaster Rovers, going on to start his first EPL match for the club since May 2016 in December 2017, which was also the first full league match he had completed for the club in over four years, while he scored his first goal in Arsenal’s colours in 928 days in the 6-0 Europa League win over Bate Borisov.

At the end of the season, it was revealed that Arsenal would not renew his contract and he was signed by West Ham, where injuries have once more hampered his contributions to just four appearances for The Hammers this season.

Having made his national team debut in 2010, Wilshere was named Man of the Match in six out of England’s seven qualifying matches for EURO 2016 underlying his technical brilliance, but has failed to make it to the 23 man squad for the 2018 World Cup.

Although some might argue that he still has time to get his career back on track, that is just wishful thinking, as persistent injury problems have robbed England of a player who had the potential to become one of their greatest midfielders of all time, which is made all the more hearbreaking by the fact that Wilshere is just 26.

#1 Owen Hargreaves

Hargreaves in action for Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League

Arguably one of the greatest what-ifs in English football history, Hargreaves made a name for himself outside the shores of England with Bayern Munich in the German Bundesliga, and was one of just two players (alongside David Beckham who made it to the final squad of England’s 2006 World Cup squad) who plied their trade outside the Premier League.

He was the first player ever to have played for England without having lived in the United Kingdom, as well as only the second player in history to have represented the Three Lions without previous experience of playing in the English league.

Hargreaves earned a reputation of being a solid hardworking midfielder, who worked tirelessly to win possession back for his teammates, and was particularly impressive with his performance in the 2004 Champions League clash against Real Madrid, where he dominated a midfield containing all-time greats such as Zidane and Luis Figo, although Real Madrid advanced.

Hargreaves was one of the best defensive midfielders in the world in the middle of the last decade, it came as no surprise when Manchester United paid £22.5m for his services in 2007. He arrived in England as a multiple time league winner and also had a Champions League medal to show for his time with Bayern.

In his first season at Old Trafford, Hargreaves starred, helping the club to triumph in the Premier League and Champions League, where he lasted all 120 minutes and converted from the spot in the shootout victory over Chelsea.

The start of his second season was blighted by injuries, and after travelling around the world to seek a solution, Hargreaves went to renowned Los Angeles knee specialist Richard Steadman who commented that Hargreaves' knee was in the worst form he had ever seen in over 35 years of practice.

Hargreaves made just two appearances in the next three years, and a heartbreaking site was him leaving the pitch just five minutes into the match against Wolves after his long-awaited return. It was announced that he would not be given a new contract at the end of the 2010/2011 season, despite offering to play for free.

Hargreaves posted videos on YouTube of his training sessions in a bid to prove his match fitness, and he was signed by Manchester City on a pay as you play contract, but that was also shortlived, as he made just four appearances for the club, and just one in the Premier League as the club won its first league title in over 40 years.

Hargreaves currently works as a pundit on television, and he is a sad case of what a devastating injury did to one of the brightest midfielders of his generation. However, he played 303 matches between clubs and national team and won 12 trophies. But he had the potential to achieve more.