Ronaldo, Diaby, Wilshere, Robben: Who is the most injury-prone player ever? | OneFootball

Abou Diaby is the most injured player in modern football history, according to a new graphic that has emerged on Reddit.

Using data from PopFoot, a table shows the 20 players that have picked up the most injuries ranked by how many calendar days they were injured for. The table also shows how many matches they missed as well as how many injuries they picked up.

Diaby leads the way with 1747 days spent injured, which equates to 314 matches missed and a total of 21 injuries. That’s almost five years out injured.

Diaby was regarded as Patrick Vieira’s successor at Arsenal but was on the wrong end of some terrible luck.

One of the worst injuries Diaby sustained during his career came in the 2005/05 season when Sunderland’s Dan Smith injured his ankle, an injury that required him to undergo three surgeries and eight months of rehabilitation.

Afterwards, Arsene Wenger threatened to sue the Sunderland man by saying: “There was only one intention in this tackle – to hurt the player – and it’s a career-threatening tackle. I will take legal advice to see how far I can go.”

Arjen Robben is second on the list with 1507 days spent injured, 243 matches missed and an eye-watering 58 injuries sustained.

That number of injuries is only eclipsed by Frank Ribery, who is seventh in the list having picked up a crazy 72 knocks that led him to miss 227 matches.

Unsurprisingly, Jack Wilshere ranks third with 1470 days missed, 214 absent matches and 18 injuries.

Vincent Kompany and Stefan Jovetic make up the top five.

Take a look at the table below:

The 20 most injured players in modern football history

It’s actually a sad list to look at. Everywhere you look, you look at incredible talent who had amazing careers. But if it wasn’t for these injuries, they could have been world-beaters.

Of course, there is a world beater already on the list with two-time Ballon d’Or winner, Ronaldo in eighth. It’s remarkable that he spent almost three years and eight months out injured and yet is still one of the greatest strikers the world has ever seen. Imagine what he could have achieved if it wasn’t for those injuries…

Elsewhere, the likes of Tomas Rosicky, Giuseppe Rossi, Marco Reus, Radamel Falcao and Ibrahim Afellay are all names that you just feel could have achieved even more incredible things if it wasn’t for their multiple injuries.

It’s the worst part of football. Injuries have the potential to completely change the career of a really talented player and take away their future.

It’s why many professionals go the extra mile to ensure they stay fit because they really don’t want to end up on this table.

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