10 of the Worst Injuries in Premier League History

The Premier League has witnessed some of the worst injuries in football history, moments where careers changed, titles tilted, and the game itself seemed to pause.

Built on speed, force, and relentless intensity, English football asks the human body to absorb punishment week after week. Most players rise, shake it off, and keep moving. Some limp away. And then there are the moments when everything comes to a standstill.

Injuries are woven into the league’s story, yet a few cut far deeper than muscle or bone. They reshape teams, derail potential, and follow players long after the final whistle.

These are not remembered for drama or outrage, but for silence. For teammates frozen in place. For crowds unsure whether to look away or stand and applaud.

What follows is not a ranking by shock value, but a careful look at fifteen of the most devastating injuries in Premier League history, judged by impact, consequence, and the lasting mark they left on players and the game itself.

1. Ryan Mason – Fractured Skull (2017)

The clash happened so quickly that most people watching barely registered it at first. Hull City were hosting Chelsea at the KCOM Stadium when Ryan Mason went up for a corner alongside Gary Cahill. Their heads collided with sickening force, and Mason dropped immediately.

What followed were eight agonizing minutes as medical staff worked on him before he was stretchered off, unconscious. The diagnosis came later that day: a fractured skull requiring emergency surgery. Surgeons inserted 14 metal plates and 28 screws to repair the damage.

Mason tried everything to get back on the pitch, working through rehabilitation with the same determination that had defined his career. But at 26 years old, the reality became unavoidable. His playing days were over.

The story has a silver lining, though. Mason moved into coaching, taking charge of Tottenham twice as interim manager before landing the permanent job at West Bromwich Albion in the Championship. He brought the same intelligence and passion to the touchline that he once showed in midfield.

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2. Luc Nilis – Double Leg Fracture (2000)

Three games. That was all Luc Nilis managed at Aston Villa before everything fell apart. The Belgian striker had arrived with a strong reputation, but his English adventure ended in the worst possible way when he collided with Ipswich Town goalkeeper Richard Wright.

The leg break was bad enough on its own, but complications made everything worse. He went under the knife twice in the first four days alone.

Then came an infection that raised the terrifying possibility of amputation. While his surgeons eventually reported positive progress, Nilis had seen enough. Even though physically he might have been able to return, mentally the decision was made. That match in 2000 became his final appearance.

3. David Busst – Double Leg Fracture (1996)

Some injuries become part of football folklore for all the wrong reasons. David Busst’s double leg fracture at Old Trafford is one of them.

Playing for Coventry City against Manchester United, Busst went into a challenge with Denis Irwin and Brian McClair. What happened next stopped the game for nine minutes.

The injury was so severe that United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, a man who had seen plenty in his career, was visibly shaken. Reports suggest he vomited after seeing the extent of the damage, and he later helped wipe blood from the pitch.

The compound fracture to Busst’s right leg required 22 separate surgeries over the following months. Doctors considered amputation at one stage. When they ruled that out, they told him his playing career was finished. Busst was 29 years old.

4. Eduardo – Broken Leg & Dislocated Ankle (2008)

Birmingham City away. February 23, 2008. A date that Arsenal fans remember with a shudder. Eduardo was chasing the ball when Martin Taylor came through with a challenge that left the Brazilian striker’s bone protruding through his sock.

The reaction from his teammates told you everything. Cesc Fabregas turned away in tears. Others stood frozen, unable to process what they had just witnessed.

Gary Lewin, Arsenal’s physio at the time, later described it as probably the worst injury he had ever seen. When he reached Eduardo on the pitch, he noticed the dislocated ankle first, twisted into an unnatural position. Then he saw the open fracture, the bone visible through the fabric.

Eduardo returned after more than a year out, but he was never quite the same player.

The explosive striker who had been lighting up the Premier League was gone, replaced by someone more cautious, less instinctive.

Arsenal eventually sold him to Shakhtar Donetsk, where he rebuilt a respectable career. But everyone who watched him before that tackle knows what was lost.

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5. Raul Jimenez – Fractured Skull (2020)

Wolves against Arsenal. Another head collision that sent shockwaves through football. Raul Jimenez went up for a defensive header alongside David Luiz, and their skulls crashed together with terrible force. Jimenez went down and stayed down.

The Mexican striker was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery on a fractured skull, and for a while, nobody knew what would happen next.

The road back took eight months, but even when Jimenez returned, he looked tentative. That natural striker’s instinct to throw himself at crosses and challenges seemed dulled by the memory of what happened. It took years before he truly resembled his old self.

Last season at Fulham, though, something clicked. Jimenez appeared in every single league match, scoring 12 goals and adding three assists.

He battled with Rodrigo Muniz for the starting spot and showed flashes of the player who once terrorized Premier League defenses. The protective headgear he now wears serves as a permanent reminder, but his performances suggest he has finally made peace with that night at the Emirates.

6. Hatem Ben Arfa – Double Leg Break (2010)

Four minutes into his Premier League debut for Newcastle United, Hatem Ben Arfa’s season ended.

Nigel de Jong’s tackle fractured both the tibia and fibula in his left leg, leaving the Frenchman requiring oxygen on the pitch before being taken to the hospital.

Surgery followed immediately, but complications arose that made amputation a real possibility. A second operation was needed to save the leg.

Eight months passed before Ben Arfa pulled on a Newcastle shirt again. He spent much of his rehabilitation back in France, working toward a return that many doubted would happen. When he finally made it back in April 2011, it felt like a minor miracle.

He stayed in English football until 2015, showing glimpses of the mesmerizing talent that had made him such an exciting prospect. A brief spell at PSG followed before he hung up his boots in 2022.

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7. Aaron Ramsey – Double Leg Break (2010)

Ryan Shawcross has probably replayed that tackle a thousand times in his head. Aaron Ramsey was just 19, a wonderfully talented midfielder who looked destined for greatness at Arsenal.

Then came that challenge from the Stoke City defender, snapping Ramsey’s tibia and fibula, and changing the trajectory of his career.

Ramsey returned after eight months, but injuries became a constant companion from that point forward. Every season seemed to bring another setback, another stretch on the sidelines.

He won three FA Cups with Arsenal and had some brilliant moments, but you always wondered what might have been. How good could he have become without those recurring fitness problems?

He moved to Juventus, won trophies in Italy, and showed he still had quality. But at 34, he has been without a club since October. The talent was always there. His body just kept letting him down.

8. Djibril Cisse – Broken Tibia & Fibula (2004)

Liverpool fans were excited about Djibril Cisse. The French striker had pace, power, and an eye for goal. Then came an October day at Blackburn when his boot caught in the turf during a challenge. His tibia and fibula snapped, the shin bone pushing out several inches and causing a comminuted fracture that cut off blood flow to his foot.

The two-hour surgery that followed almost ended with amputation. Quick medical work saved his leg, and somehow, incredibly, Cisse returned in April 2005. He looked sharp too, contributing to Liverpool’s famous Champions League triumph that season.

Then football dealt him another cruel hand. In a 2006 international friendly, he broke his other leg. The World Cup came and went without him.

His pace was affected; you could see that, but Cisse kept playing until 2015 when a hip problem forced his retirement. The fact that he lasted another decade after those injuries speaks to his determination.

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9. Andre Gomes – Fractured Dislocated Ankle (2019)

November 2019. Everton versus Tottenham. Son Heung-min made a tackle that sent Andre Gomes tumbling.

As the Portuguese midfielder fell, his ankle twisted beneath him with such force that everyone in the stadium knew immediately. Son saw it happen and broke down in tears, inconsolable despite teammates trying to comfort him.

The injury was nobody’s fault, just a horrible consequence of bodies moving at speed.

Gomes underwent surgery the next day, and the recovery timeline looked grim. Fracture-dislocations of that severity often take the better part of a year to heal.

But Gomes returned in just 112 days, coming off the bench against Arsenal in February 2020. He has continued playing, now at Lille in Ligue 1, appearing in 20 league matches last season at 32 years old.

10. Petr Cech – Depressed Skull Fracture (2006)

The match against Reading had barely started when Stephen Hunt collided with Petr Cech. The Czech goalkeeper dropped like he had been shot, and within seconds, everyone knew this was serious.

Cech was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery, where doctors inserted metal plates into his skull.

What makes this story different from Mason and Jimenez is what happened afterward. Cech came back. Not only did he return, but he became one of the greatest goalkeepers in Premier League history.

He wore that distinctive headguard for the rest of his career, a permanent reminder of how close he came to losing everything.

Five FA Cups. Four Premier League titles. The Champions League. The Europa League. Cech collected them all before retiring in 2019. That headguard became iconic, but it represented more than just protection. It symbolized resilience, the refusal to let one horrific moment define a career.

He could have walked away in 2006. Nobody would have blamed him. Instead, he came back and wrote one of the great redemption stories in football history.

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