5 players whose careers were destroyed due to injuries

For the talent he was, Michael Owen, was injured too frequentlyFootball for all its beauty can be an ugly sport sometimes especially when a player is injured. We recently witnessed Kurt Zouma suffer a horrifying knee injury that keeps him on the sidelines for at least the next six months. One can only hope that the young Frenchman is able to recover, and resume a career that seems destined for greatness.While there is hope, with numerous success stories including Arjen Robben, Robin van Persie, and Aaron Ramsey, just to name a few, these five players weren’t so lucky:

#5 Marco van Basten

van Basten spent an agonizing two years on the sidelines before deciding to throw in the towel.

Marco van Basten. One of the most celebrated forwards in the history of the game. Signed by Ajax at the start of the 1981-82 season, he played second fiddle to European top scorer, Wim Kieft, until Kieft left for Pisa in the Serie A in 1983.

What followed was one of the greatest goal scoring spells in the history of the Dutch giants, as van Basten scored an incredible 118 goals in 112 games between 1983-84 and 1986-87 and adding a UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup as well as three Eredivisie championships to his trophy cabinet during his time in Amsterdam.

At the start of the 1987-88 season, he departed for Italy as he was signed by AC Milan – along with compatriots Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard – to form one of the most iconic teams in world football. His maiden Serie A campaign was hampered by an ankle injury that saw him play only 11 games, as Milan picked up a Scudetto.

His return to the squad the next year was nothing short of spectacular though, as notched 19 league goals as well as 2 crucial n the European Cup final as Milan beat Steaua Bucharest, and followed that up the next year by becoming the Serie A top scorer, as well as successfully helping Milan defend their European crown against Benfica.

This was followed by a forgettable year under Arrigo Sacchi, but the Italian legend was replaced in the off season by Fabio Capello who revitalised van Basten, and Milan went the whole season undefeated to pick up yet another Scudetto.

The Utrecht native was on fire yet again at the start the following year as Milan stretched their unbeaten run to 58 games through 2 seasons, and van Basten was awarded his third Ballon d’Or with the Milanese giants.

But, his ankle injury was a recurring issue, and he missed most of the second half of the season, returning only towards the tail end as Milan were beaten by Marseille in the European Cup final – This was to be his last game for the club.

A series of surgeries to repair his ankle proved to be unsuccessful, as van Basten finally threw in the towel after two whole years on the sidelines, and football was robbed of one of its greatest forwards when he was in his prime – 28 years old.

#4 Sebastian Deisler

Deisler’s injury woes kept him from fulfilling his potential at the highest level.

Germany’s darkest football period was just around the turn of the millennium, as Die Mannschaft were knocked out of Euro 2000 without registering a single win. It was a couple of years before this when the name Sebastian Deisler came into the spotlight. Germany’s biggest hope, and the man who was to be their star for the foreseeable future.

Such was the expectations on Deisler that he was nicknamed “Das Supertalent”, and he made a bright start to his career with Borussia Monchengladbach. He was the lone performer, in an otherwise woeful squad that ended up relegated in 1999. With no fewer than twentysix clubs vying for his signature, Deisler decided on a move to Hertha Berlin.

It was in Berlin that he got his first taste of Champions League football. An attacking midfielder and winger, he was the heart of a Hertha team that made it out of a group that included Chelsea, AC Milan and Galatasaray. Still in his teenage years, and going from strength to strength, a tragic succession of events marred the career of Deisler before it had truly begun. A ruptured anterior cruciate ligament, sent him to the sidelines and marked a descent into the abyss.

A brief return was swiftly followed by another injury, but nevertheless, such was the potential in Lorrach native that Bayern Munich went ahead and signed him at the start of the 2002-03 season. The heir apparent to the departing Stefan Effenberg, Deisler would arrive in Bavaria on crutches.

The move turned into a nightmare, as Deisler was unable to cope with the pressures at Bayern, and started suffering from severe bouts of depression, and to top it all off, he was diagnosed with cancer. Missing months on end, he received cancer treatment, and looked primed to finally break into the Bayern squad – now under the guidance of German captain, Michael Ballack.

The return was short lived as he was immediately injured again, and missed the World Cup on home soil in 2006. A brief return in November 2006 was never going to last, and in January 2007, he announced his retirement – aged just 27 years old.

#3 Radamel Falcao

Falcao has never been the same since his injury – including a forgettable campaign at Chelsea this year.

Having made a name for himself at Argentine giants, River Plate, Radamel Falcao made his presence known as one of the most lethal strikers on the planet during his stint in Portugal, with Porto.

El Tigre really came into his own in his sophomore year at the Estadio do Dragao. In a team boasting the likes of Hulk and Freddy Guarin, Falcao was the crown jewel of Porto as he helped them to both the Portuguese League Title, as well as the UEFA Europa League title – where he scored an astonishing 17 goals in just 14 games. It was to be his last game in the blue of Porto as he made the switch over to Spain with Atletico Madrid.

He immediately hit the ground running in Madrid as he helped Atletico to a Europa League title of their own, and added consecutive winners’ medals to his growing collection. He followed that up with a Copa del Rey championship in 2012-2013, as Atletico beat cross-town rivals Real Madrid for the first time in 14 years.

He then made the move to France with Monaco, who had just been promoted to Ligue 1. Playing alongside Joao Moutinho, and compatriot James Rodriguez, Falcao was just getting into his stride when injury struck. A severe ACL injury in January 2015 marked the steep decline of one of Colombia’s best attackers.

He ended up missing the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, and an unsuccessful loan spell in Manchester United followed as Monaco were forced to offload the striker due to UEFA’s Financial Fair Play regulations. He started this season on loan at another English club – Chelsea and has looked a shadow of the man that terrorised defenders all over Europe.

#2 Owen Hargreaves

Due to injuries, Hargreaves was named by Sir Alex Ferguson amongst his "most disappointing signings".

Canadian-born, English midfielder Owen Hargreaves has become synonymous with the word injury. A prodigiously talented footballer, he moved from Canada to Bayern Munich at the tender age of 16, and would go on to establish himself as a key member of the Bavarian’s first team.

He spent 10 trophy-laden years in Germany, winning the Bundesliga on multiple occasions, as well as starting in the 2000 UEFA Champions League Final that Bayern would go on to win. This made him only the second ever Englishman to win the Champions League as part of a non-English football club.

A £17 million pound move to Manchester United in 2007 led to instant success as he added a maiden Premier League title to his collection as well as a second Champions League title as he played the full 120 minutes in the final in Moscow, where United beat Chelsea on penalties.

What followed in his second season though sparked off a run of injuries he would never truly recover from, as he needed to have surgery on both knees which kept him out for a year and a half, followed by constant setbacks.

After being released by United, he signed a one-year deal with local rivals Manchester City but featured just once all season long, after which he decided to call time on his footballing career.

#1 Michael Owen

Owen suffered a devastating injury while on international duty with England at the 2006 World Cup.

Bursting onto the scene as a teenager with Liverpool, Michael Owen was hailed as one of the brightest English talents to ever grace the football pitch. Boasting explosive pace and acceleration, and with a deadly eye for goal, Owen had the world at his feet.

Liverpool’s top scorer from 1998 to 2004, Owen was primed to be the one of the biggest strikers on the planet following his move to Real Madrid in August 2004 to be a part of the Galactico project.

It turned out to be an ill-fated move, as he spent most of the season on the bench, and was sold just a year later returning to the Premier League with Newcastle United for a club record £17 million.

Following a bright start to life on Tyneside, it looked like he was back to his best until disaster struck on 31st December 2005 – a broken metatarsal that started the downward spiral.

He returned in time to make the 2006 World Cup squad, but a damaged anterior cruciate ligament in the first group game against Sweden kept him out for nearly a year, and it was the beginning of the end for the man who was European Player of the Year in 2001. A lifeline at Manchester United didn’t work out, and Owen finally bowed out with Stoke City playing just a measly 120 games from 2007 till he hung up his boots.