Your Top 3 Players Ruined By Injuries From the Last Decade

Rossi could have been big for Italy.

I remember Juve trying to sign him from Villarreal the summer before his injury and failing because we couldn't afford 30m players The same times we failed with Aguero and Alexis.

Kaladin wrote:

My personal favorite Pato goal

I really cant believe this was almost 9 years ago, remember it like yesterday

Oh how we've fallen

He was also the difference maker in that Scudetto match against  Inter

Kaladin wrote:

My personal favorite Pato goal

I really cant believe this was almost 9 years ago, remember it like yesterday

Oh how we've fallen

Kaladin wrote:

My personal favorite Pato goal

I really cant believe this was almost 9 years ago, remember it like yesterday

Oh how we've fallen

I remember this one.

It was the time where tensions were growing between Zlatan and Pato since Pato wasn't exactly good at linking up or did not go by Zlatan's idea of how to play up front.

It was Pato at his best though as I remember the week of this game Pato showed up to train even by himself to which was received well by Milanisti.

This goal in particular Ibra was open and literally screaming for the pass and Pato knew but took one of the most ballsy shots into the top corner and all was forgotten about who was open.

I always was more thinking about if Pato did miss that shot and how Zlatan's reaction would likely be his cleat down his throat

Its almost like Pato shot to prove himself against Zlats, based on that look back. Just speculation.

Most exciting time for Milanisti, the early part of the decade

Andy Carroll would have at least two Ballon Dors if he didn't break down literally all the time. That's a fact.

As a Liverpool fan it was kinda crazy to see Sturridge's "flash in the pan" career. He had 21 PL goals in that '13-'14 season and in the following five seasons he still spent at the club he had a total of 19 PL goals. He also had just 28 appearances for England while a less talented Rashford has 38 appearances at the age of 22.

For third I'll just say that it's nice to see Danny Ings play so well at Southampton (15 PL goals this season). His "dream move" to Liverpool was completely ruined by injuries.

Carroll was never remarkable as a a whole as much as I convinced myself to believe so when he came in due to his price. One of the best headerers of the ball I have seen and have a decent left-foot but thats where it ends.

Sturridge on the other hand is a tragedy given his talent and did contribute a lot to us at his stint.

Robespierre wrote:

Kaladin wrote:

My personal favorite Pato goal

I really cant believe this was almost 9 years ago, remember it like yesterday

Oh how we've fallen

He was also the difference maker in that Scudetto match against  Inter

He was clutch that season despite injuries. His braces against Inter and Napoli pretty much won us the Scudetto. Overall throughout the season Zlatan was the best player but Pato was the man we counted on in the biggest games. And he was only what like 20. I blame our shambolic medical team for ruining his career. He should have accepted that offer from PSG.

Pato was never that good.

The end...

Spoiler:

It really is a shame, because talents like him are so rare

EDIT Mistaken thread.

M99 wrote:

Robespierre wrote:

Kaladin wrote:

My personal favorite Pato goal

I really cant believe this was almost 9 years ago, remember it like yesterday

Oh how we've fallen

He was also the difference maker in that Scudetto match against  Inter

He was clutch that season despite injuries. His braces against Inter and Napoli pretty much won us the Scudetto. Overall throughout the season Zlatan was the best player but Pato was the man we counted on in the biggest games. And he was only what like 20. I blame our shambolic medical team for ruining his career. He should have accepted that offer from PSG.

It wasn't MilanLab per say, M99.


The reason is and you will remember, the summer before Max and company came to Milan the coaching staff had him pack on a lot of muscle and very fast.

Young fast players these days always think they can be the next (Luis) Ronaldo/Henry etc and be a #9 thus the muscle was put onto him so he would have the strength for that role.

Trouble is Pato has a generally thin and weak frame and that added muscle was put on so fast it cost his frame. And by that it changed his game and onto something else and he never recovered.


This is a general thing that never works out for young and fast CF where staff think adding muscle will enhance them without drawbacks similar to in the combat world. Yet muscle as best is mostly useless performance wise, past a certain point for it uses a lot of oxygen, is inefficient in in most ways and puts on too much weight upon certain frames.

This happens to this day.

Also R9. could have been better than Messi. Injuries ruined him.

@mamad they said excluding r9 kaka and the likes
@Arquitecto i always wonder with players like that how much of it is due to poor work ethic? at one point in milan the only thing associated with pato's name was parties. and there have been scrawny young players who have made a brilliant career for themselves. obviously most youngsters don't come in with an adult frame but i always feel part of that development is dependent on the player not just the medical staff

Arq makes a good point about putting on muscle. Some bodies can handle it, some just aren't meant too

To me it's actually so stupid trying to force a player to put on more muscle especially if they're already good. There are advantages in keeping your natural muscle mass - firstly because it's natural making your movement much more comfortable and agile. Besides you can still have a strong upper body even when slimmer, all it takes is strong shoulders and upper arms and knowing how to weigh and balance your body when taking contact. I speak from my own football and basketball experiences

titosantill wrote:@mamad they said excluding r9 kaka and the likes
@Arquitecto i always wonder with players like that how much of it is due to poor work ethic? at one point in milan the only thing associated with pato's name was parties. and there have been scrawny young players who have made a brilliant career for themselves. obviously most youngsters don't come in with an adult frame but i always feel part of that development is dependent on the player not just the medical staff

Pato like many starlets was an emotional character.

Sometimes he would show the work-ethic and motivation we desired to see other times he would do the complete opposite. Where things began to decline for him was not just the poor choice of gaining muscle to be a CF, but his outside life.

By that I mean he began dating Barbara Berlusconi who is Silvio's daughter and had a huge role in the club.

Not only she was overhyped and the product of nepotism she proved highly unprofessional by dating him and having many demands of him as well to which were a distraction within his Milan tenure. When things soured between them it further proved a distraction and many know she was a reason he was shafted out when they broke up similar to when actors in a tv series begin and end a relationship whilst the content is still running.

Shame as we all loved him and he did indeed score in the biggest games but a lot of it also was his own undoing.


@EG: Muscle is not very functional unless we are speaking of powerlifting/bodybuilding purposes as in athletic competitions of football or MMA for instance, it is close to useless beyond a certain point as otherwise Akinfenwa or Micah Richards would not be total scrubs.

Im baffled that Pato was given so much muscle given speed was one of his primary traits. Ridiculous decision that only looked good on paper.

Mamad wrote:If only Robben didn't get injured all the time at Madrid.....

And at Chelsea

titosantill wrote:i dont know that injuries ruined jese. yes he was doing well and he got injured from a bad tackle and that halted his progress. but upon return, it seems he just hasn't won the confidence of any of his coaches to force them to play him and his commitment to the sport has also been questioned. its not like he keeps getting injured and thus sidelined. its more of coaches don't trust him i think

my list is dembele, bale and i'd say maybe reus. don't think we got to see the best of reus

Jese never did recover from ACL injury, same as with Canales. However, I don’t know if either would have made it. They both had tremendous potential prior to the ACL. We will never know. In Jése case, a lot of the downfall is attributable to his attitude.

Kick wrote:Bale's a good shout.

Could be Ronaldo levels, but is instead unwanted.

Naw, he’s more interested in his Golf career.

Talking about ACL injuries, has there ever been anyone who fully recovered and ended up with same speed, mobility after a torn ACL? It is probably the most career ending injury.

futbol_bill wrote:Talking about ACL injuries, has there ever been anyone who fully recovered and ended up with same speed, mobility after a torn ACL? It is probably the most career ending injury.

Excellent question. I think van Nistelrooy is among the lucky few who overcame it.

Bill, I went to google to make sure of Ruud's case and found out that Alan Shearer is also another name to add to the list.

Then, out of curiosity, I did a little more digging and found out that Ibra and Totti also had it and were able to overcome it as well.

It just goes to show how nasty that injury is, that only 4 big names were able to shake it off.

The Demon of Carthage wrote:

futbol_bill wrote:Talking about ACL injuries, has there ever been anyone who fully recovered and ended up with same speed, mobility after a torn ACL? It is probably the most career ending injury.

Excellent question. I think van Nistelrooy is among the lucky few who overcame it.

Lahm had an ACL injury when he was young, and then had a long and glorious career afterwards, never being injured again even once

I wonder if recovery depends upon how bad the tear was or was the player brought back too early. It’s not just in futbol, this injury is prominent in most sports with the same detrimental results.

it depends on a lot of things; how bad it is, as well as the players strength at the time. didn't know about shearer but ruud was very young when his happened, so there was still time to adjust. the most interesting thing about ruud was, ferguson could have pulled out of any interest in signing him, but ferguson and utd were willing to take that risk. fergie even visited him in eindhoven on a number of occasions when he was going through that.

The Demon of Carthage wrote:Bill, I went to google to make sure of Ruud's case and found out that Alan Shearer is also another name to add to the list.

Then, out of curiosity, I did a little more digging and found out that Ibra and Totti also had it and were able to overcome it as well.

It just goes to show how nasty that injury is, that only 4 big names were able to shake it off.

The common thread amongst them is that none of them relied on speed for their game. I don't think anyone who does will ever be the same, particularly if you can't adapt your game. Similar to how those same sort of players start falling off post-30 when they aren't quite as fast anymore and don't adapt

Arquitecto wrote:

M99 wrote:

Robespierre wrote:

He was also the difference maker in that Scudetto match against  Inter

He was clutch that season despite injuries. His braces against Inter and Napoli pretty much won us the Scudetto. Overall throughout the season Zlatan was the best player but Pato was the man we counted on in the biggest games. And he was only what like 20. I blame our shambolic medical team for ruining his career. He should have accepted that offer from PSG.

It wasn't MilanLab per say, M99.


The reason is and you will remember, the summer before Max and company came to Milan the coaching staff had him pack on a lot of muscle and very fast.

Young fast players these days always think they can be the next (Luis) Ronaldo/Henry etc and be a #9 thus the muscle was put onto him so he would have the strength for that role.

Trouble is Pato has a generally thin and weak frame and that added muscle was put on so fast it cost his frame. And by that it changed his game and onto something else and he never recovered.


This is a general thing that never works out for young and fast CF where staff think adding muscle will enhance them without drawbacks similar to in the combat world. Yet muscle as best is mostly useless performance wise, past a certain point for it uses a lot of oxygen, is inefficient in in most ways and puts on too much weight upon certain frames.

This happens to this day.

I know it wasn't MilanLab because MilanLab was killed off to cut costs. Its mentioned here.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/feb/16/milan-lab-premier-league

The clowns in the medical department after are not Milan Lab.

That is correct as MilanLab was renowned all over Europe and what followed after them have been thoroughly unimpressive with little incidental changes in between.

Was a sad day when they were dissolved.