Owen Hargreaves would win 42 England caps, four Bundesliga titles, two Champions Leagues and the Premier League during the first nine years of his professional career.
But by 2007, he hit something of a wall, as he became beset by a series of injuries that he ultimately would not be able to overcome.
A year after he was England’s best player at the 2006 World Cup, Hargreaves moved to Manchester United in a £17million deal, but only after he had recovered from a broken leg.
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Hargreaves opens up on his injury troubles
The midfielder would turn out 39 times for the Red Devils in the 2007/08 campaign, but only nine more career appearances over the next four seasons followed. The Canadian-born star visited renowned surgeon Richard Steadman for surgery in November 2008, with Hargreaves admitting that his knee never fully recovered.
“No, I was never the same after all of the injections and operations that I had to have at United,” he tells FourFourTwo, on behalf of TNT Sports. ”Trying to readjust and adapt in a professional setting after such a long time out was difficult. I was in constant pain after that. Tendons aren’t like bones – they’re living tissue and they can hurt a lot.
“I wish I’d known more about tendons earlier in my career, as I could have avoided so much pain and heartache had I looked after my body a bit more carefully, but I so desperately wanted to play football. I never realised just how dangerous my injury had been.”
Hargreaves’ final action on a football pitch came as a bit-part Manchester City player in the 2011/12 season, as he called it a day in his early thirties.
“It wasn’t that hard in the end, because I’d suffered so much and my knee was in pieces,” he continues. “On the one hand, I’d given football everything I had – I’d left home, moved countries, put up with loads of doubt, criticism and even anger at times – and I’d come through it all and won titles. On the other hand, I knew those days were behind me.
“I’d been investing a lot of time and energy into just trying to gently run or take part in small-sided games, then getting injured again and starting from scratch. I was in physical and psychological agony at times. I was a decent footballer and I could play, but my USP was competing: I could fight, I could run, I could work harder than you and grind you down when you couldn’t fight any more.
“Once the fight in me had finally gone, there was no decision left to make. It was over. Had I been a world-class talent, with a generational pass or sublime vision, it may have been worthwhile trying to come back one last time, but I was a competitor and my body was broken.
“It’s devastating when that realisation comes, but walking away from the game felt like a relief. Not having to put myself through hell simply to get on a treadmill any more, not having to take painkillers to sleep… I was free from it. I would have given anything to carry on, but I knew I’d lost that fight in me. I’d recently had a baby girl and I took that as a sign that a new life beckoned.”
