Hahahaha a 90 minute football match every 3 days wow its a tough life. Constant travelling? In ferrari to training? Or a top of the range comfort coach or a high spec private plane? Fuck me
It’s a very tough life. Ian Wright had to stop playing when he did because he was told he might not be able to walk in later life because of what football had done to his ankles.
The levels of intensity required and enacted on the body (and mind) are incredible at the highest level.
Even a healthy injury-free player in his prime has to put his body through an enormous amount of strain that’s not really natural for humans to do. Human skeletal systems have evolved to be runners: bipedal, long limbs, large knees, large pelvis, large gluteus maximus, extended rotating waist, lowered shoulders and a ligament that’s only found in humans - the nuchal ligament, that has literally evolved to stop humans’ heads jolting forward when running.
However, we have actually not evolved to run with a ball at our feet in ever-changing and diverting directions with bent knees and our heads down while pushing off or being slide tackled by other humans. The structure of our knees and especially the ligaments in the knee are testament to that. I’d bet there are many more knee ligament injuries in football than in, say, marathon running at the elite level. We’ve probably got a few thousand years of playing football before our knee ligaments have actually evolved to be thick enough to endure sports like football and that would only happen if every human on Earth played football at the elite level, so as a species our knees are probably never going to be suited to playing football at the elite level.
So while playing 90 minutes of football at Wythenshawe Town’s level (eighth tier of English football) every three days whilst also working on site full-time is probably manageable while not ideal for human bodies; playing it at the most elite level is incredibly difficult no matter how much training they do.
And how many serious injuries has de Bruyne had? Playing as much football as he has in the last two years as someone who’s had the injuries he’s had, will probably have a life changing effect on his body.
This is the injury history of Kevin De Bruyne from Manchester City. On this page injuries as well as suspensions.
www.transfermarkt.co.uk
de Bruyne was injured for 63 days with a knee injury in 2015-16 and 108 days with a knee injury in 2018-19, and yet he’s only not started two Premier League games this season.
Plus a Ferrari or a private jet doesn’t stop you feeling the emotions of being twatted in the face in the biggest game of your life and having to come off when you’re the star player of the team who is losing 0-1 and you and the team have been shit, with the hopes and dreams of millions of fans and you’re own standards and expectations on your shoulders.