List of Top 10 Most Injury Prone Players in Premier League

Football is a contact sport where players often engage in physical challenges, tackles, duels, competitive nature and jostling to win the ball in high-intensity games. Footballers have intense training and match schedules which leads to excessive demands from the body to maintain their fitness every week in and week out. 

Though, medical facilities have evolved in sports injuries are an unwanted part of the sport and something which every surely wants to avoid in his career. However, it is also true that every player at some stage of their career could suffer an injury and it has become a common phenomenon in the sport

In particular in the Premier League — one of the most physically demanding and challenging sporting leagues in the world. It is renowned for its highly intense matches, competitive nature, aggressive gameplay, and congested game week schedules. 

In this article, we will rank the top 10 most injury prone players in the Premier League history. 

10. Daniel Agger – Liverpool

Liverpool’s former defender Daniel Agger is in the tenth place on the list of injury prone players. In his eight-year spell with Liverpool, he only played 175 games averaging 29 per season. 

During several serious injuries, he was sidelined for a long period missing 92 Premier League games for Liverpool. Rib fracture, Calf, back and hamstring injuries were a list of injuries which kept him on the sideline. 

9. Reece James – Chelsea 

Reece James is the youngest and the only active player on this list, the Chelsea star have had suffered a series of injuries in the past few seasons which has forced him to remain in the treatment room for over 600 days. 

Consequently, the right-back missed 122 Premier League matches for the Blues and most recently underwent surgery due to a Hamstring injury. Fortunately, he has now fully recovered and playing regularly for Chelsea under Enzo Maresca

8. Gareth Bale – Spurs 

Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspurs icon Gareth Bale is hailed as one of the greatest forward players in the world. He enjoyed immense success with Los Blancos with loads of accolades including five UEFA Champions League haul. 

Despite being an extraordinary player, the Wales icon’s career had been impacted due to his injury regularity. Bale spent 1,079 days on the sidelines at Tottenham Hotspurs — missing 256 Premier League games for Lilywhite. 

Read More: Ranking The 10 Best Left Backs in Premier League

7. Thomas Vermaelen – Arsenal

Thomas Vermaelen played for the Gunners from 2009 to 2014, he made the majority of his club appearances for Arsenal 150 across all competitions of which 110 came in the Premier League. 

The Belgian defender’s time at Emirates stadium was struck with Achilles tendon, knee, and Calf and several different injuries led him to remain sidelines for a total of 1,366 days missing 267 fixtures for the North London club. 

6. Vincent Kompany – Manchester City

Former Manchester City captain and icon played a commanding role in the club’s domestic success. Vincent Kompany is amongst the greatest defenders to have played in the English top tier having experience of 265 matches under his belt and currently managing Bayern Munich.

One of the greatest Belgian players of all time – Kompany despite having a successful career, minor injury woes always loomed over his career. Thankfully, these upsets didn’t have much of an impact yet he missed 176 league fixtures. 

5. Jack Wilshere – Arsenal, Bournemouth, West Ham United

Jack Wilshere is currently retired at just 32, the former Arsenal forward hung his boots and presently working as Arsenal U18 manager. 

One of the most talented English midfielders has unfortunately secured his name on the most injury prone premier league player’s list missing over 200 league games during his career. 

Wilshere never fully reached his potential after breaking into the scene as a promising teenager, it’s sad his career never recovered from the injury problems which ultimately concluded his playing early. 

4. Arjen Robben – Chelsea

Arjen Robben’s name is etched into the history books as one of the greatest wingers of all time in football. Robben played for some of the biggest clubs in the world Chelsea, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. He was phenomenal at Bayern Munich – trophy-laden spell. 

From 2004 to 2007, during his Chelsea time. The Dutch winger struggled with fitness and injury woes due to which he missed 27 in his debut campaign. Overall, the left-footed wizard missed 243 games for the Blues in the Premier League. 

3. Stevan Jovetic – Manchester City

Montenegro star Stevan Jovetic is currently without a club. He spent three years with Citizens at the Etihad — a highly rated talent but injuries marred any of his chances to mark his arrival in the Premier League. His move to England ended as a failure. 

Jovetic had only secured 30 English Premier League appearances following a serious calf and hamstring injury woes forced him to sit on the bench for 211 matches and a period of over 1550 days in total. 

2. Thiago Alcantara – Liverpool 

One of the most skilful and elegant midfielders of this generation, Thiago Alcantara announced his shocking retirement this year in 2024. The Spaniard had remarkable spells with Barcelona and Bayern Munich winning numerous titles and accolades. 

Unfortunately, his move to Anfield in 2020 failed to live up to the hype. The midfielder suffered back-to-back injury upsets which subsequently laid him off for 1,560 days. Because of a poor injury record, he missed 362 fixtures and occupies the second position on injury injury prone list.

1. Abou Diaby – Arsenal 

Abou Diaby is the most injury prone player in Premier League history. The French midfielder played for big clubs like Marseille and Arsenal in his career. He was part of the Gunners from 2005 to 2016 but injury disrupted his promising spell in the North London 

He could only manage to make 124 Premier League appearances throughout his decade-long stint with Arsenal. He missed a total of 314 club games due to a range of injuries from ankle, and hamstring to Cruciate ligament tear. He officially retired in February 2019 

Also Read: Premier League Vs Champions League: What Are The Differences?

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