West Ham
With the transfer deadline closing in just under 11 hours, West Ham are expected to be major players as they seek a quick fix for their injury jinx. New midfield signings Scott Parker, Freddie Ljungberg, Julien Faubert and Kieron Dyer have all been crocked, so Hammers boss Alan Pardew is believed to be lining up a move for Derby County’s teenage winger Giles Barnes.
Barnes himself has missed the start of the season with a metatarsal injury, and is yet to appear for Derby this season. One would think that if you were looking to solve an injury crisis, signing a player who is currently injured might not be wisest idea.
But then, this is West Ham.
West Ham are either very brave or very stupid. After the disastrous blow of losing Julien Fabuert, the Hammers moved to replace him with Sweden’s international captain, Freddie Ljungberg. The problem? Ljungberg is arguably one of the most injury-prone players in the Premier League.
Internal bleeding in his knee, bruised ribs, back problems, foot injuries, and various hip problems (including one caused by a belatedly infected tattoo); all of these have become familiar to Ljungberg in the last few years. West Ham have replaced a crock with an injury timebomb.
There’s no doubt that on his day, Ljungberg is an excellent player. But investing £3m and astronomical wages (the English press reported £60k p/week, whilst the Swedish went for a ludicrous £103k) in a player who seems to have missed at least ten league games in every season of his career is a very significant gamble indeed.
What do you reckon: crock or gold?
Question: What is more annoying than spending £6m on a new midfielder, only for him to miss the first half of the season with a ruptured achilles tendon?
Answer: Spending £6.1m on a new midfielder, as West Ham did on Julien Faubert, only for him to miss the first half of the season with a ruptured achilles tendon.
Faubert, who was viewed by many as a replacement for Israeli Yossi Benayoun, picked up the injury in a friendly against Czech side Sigma Olomouc. George Cooper, West Ham’s head physiotherapist, revealed the injury had come “completely out of the blue”:
Julien has no history of any achilles problems and this kind of rupture is usually predisposed by past steroid injections in the area - something he has never had - so it is a major shock.
“A major shock”? Really? West Ham ought to be getting used to this kind of thing by now. Signing for them is essentially a cast iron guarantee that you will get injured. I’d suspect any player declaring an interest in joining West Ham is looking to cash in big time on their health insurance.
Take for example, Lucas Neil - signed for £1.5m, then out for a month with an ankle problem within days of finalising his contract. Or Nigel Quashie, picked up for the same fee and missing since March with a foot injury.
And who can forget la pièce de résistance: the £6m January outlay on Matthew Upson, who has since amassed a spectacular 41 minutes playing time for the club.
Latest signings Richard Wright, Scott Parker, and Craig Bellamy should beware - it’s surely only a matter of time until it’s their turn…
In the first full weekend of pre-season, two top Premiership sides suffered significant injury scares.
In Arsenal’s 2-0 victory over north London rivals Barnet, Jason Puncheon’s late tackle on Denilson led to the 19-year-old being stretched off with what appeared to be a serious knee injury. However, scans revealed that Denilson should be able to return to training in “a few days”.
Chelsea’s 2-1 win over Mexican outfit Club America was notable for the absence of not just Ashley Cole but also Wayne Bridge, who will miss up to three months with a fractured pelvis. It’s a good job Chelsea moved to sign Tal Ben Haim as back-up - in Cole and Bridge they have two players about as likely to get injured as a man running over a black cat which is standing under a ladder.
There was better news for fans of West Ham, who witnessed the return of Dean Ashton after twelve months out with a broken ankle. The powerful forward played 45 minutes of the friendly victory over Dagenham & Redbridge, and admitted after the game that he had doubted whether this moment would ever come:
“There were times when I thought I might not get back, so I’m really going to enjoy this season. It was an absolute joy to be out there playing, it has been a long, tough year and I’m glad to be back.”
He’s not alone in his fears - a broken ankle can be an absolutely devastating injury. Still, the return of Abou Diaby from this horrific blow should give Ashton hope as he takes his latest step on the comeback trail. Next stop, England?
