Former West Ham and Newcastle midfielder Kieron Dyer was one of the brightest English talents of his generation.
However, his career was wrecked by injuries and forced him to retire and despise the game he once loved so dearly.
He told the Daily Mail: “Earlier in my career it got to the stage where I was embarrassed to say I had an injury. I once played on at West Brom with an injury just so I didn’t have to walk off the pitch.
“I’d rather play with a hamstring tear than face the walk of shame. It happened more than once too.
“After the game I asked for a massage on the hamstring, trying to convince myself it was just a bit tight. I tried to pretend it hadn’t happened.
“I was out training the next week with a grade one hamstring tear and Newcastle boss Graeme Souness was going mad at me, because he could see I wasn’t putting everything in.
“‘Kieron,’ he was yelling, ‘you have to train how you play because we need you to get match toughness.’
“I knew I couldn’t do that. I was inconsolable and embarrassed and cried all the way to the physio room.”
But while the physical and emotional toil on players is well documented, there is also a financial side to every injury.
A report by JLT Risk and Insurance Services entitled the Football Index Injury has calculated that Premier League clubs recorded 764 injuries in the 2018/19 season – the most in years.