With more games added every year to the schedule, it is a foregone conclusion that players’ injuries will increase as well.
And with compensation of top-flight players increasing each year and many teams operating on a strict budget, this has caused friction between the club teams (who are paying players’ wages) and their international teams, who have the job of fielding the best squad possible. In fact, the only situation in which an international team is required to reimburse a club team is during the final stages of an international tournament—not during the qualifying rounds, which is when most of the matches are played (and the injuries occur).
With players’ salaries often reaching exorbitant levels, with every point in the standings critical (not to mention the various cup games many clubs are involved in), the financial implications of injuries are huge. Let’s take a look at some recent player injuries and the effect it has had on their club teams, as well as on the players themselves.
Neymar
Most of us that followed the World Cup last summer have a clear recollection of Neymar being carted off the field on a stretcher during Brazil’s match with Colombia. The broken bone in his back ended his World Cup dreams, as well as Brazil’s.
While he spent the remainder of the offseason recovering from his injury, a broken bone heals on its own timetable. And Neymar is only now regaining some of his form. He is a critical member up front for Barcelona, often deflecting attention from its subpar defense in the back.
Lionel Messi is still the conductor leading Barcelona’s orchestra, but Neymar is a critical part of the team chemistry. Barca’s slower than usual start this season demonstrated Neymar’s importance to the team. At age 22, he has a great future ahead of him should he remain healthy. The only thing standing in the way of a long, promising career is the injury bug.
Jozy Altidore
Starting his European journey in the Eredivisie for AZ Alkmaar, Altidore scored 23 goals in his 33 appearances during the 2012-2013 season. Sunderland paid a transfer fee of $13 million in order to develop and take advantage of his goal-scoring abilities.
While Altidore had a slow start for the English Premier League team, what really slowed him down was a grade-two tear in his hamstring in the United States’ World Cup match during the summer.
Since then, Altidore has not regained his prior form and has been a constant member of the bench (if he made the 18 man roster at all that week). Expect Jozy to be traded to another team when the winter transfer window opens. Such a transfer will certainly have an adverse effect upon his earning power.
Of course, at age 24, he still has many years of competitive football left in him should he remain healthy. But in an ironic twist, U.S. manager Jurgen Klinsmann, for whom Altidore played for in the World Cup, will not afford him playing time until he plays more competitive minutes with his club team. Of course, Altidore’s lack of playing time is a result of his injury sustained while playing for that same manager.
Daniel Sturridge
A former Chelsea striker, Sturridge was transferred to Liverpool and had a break-out season for the Reds last year, complementing Luis Suarez on the wing and being an integral part of his team’s success.
With Suarez now at Barcelona and his replacement, Mario Balotelli, having a subpar season thus far, Liverpool needed continued production from Sturridge. Unfortunately for the Reds, injuries from his international play with the English National Team have kept him largely on the bench. With Sturridge not expected back to action until at least December and having only made three appearances for his club team this season, Liverpool is in pursuit of strikers from other clubs and is close to signing Napoli striker Gonzalo Higuain for a reported transfer fee of just over $50 million.
The current goal-scoring drought of Liverpool would necessitate such a transfer (and enrich the coffers of Napoli), it could serve to decrease the future playing time (and potential earnings) of Sturridge. Additionally, the points that Liverpool have dropped due to a lack of goal scoring could prove costly as the season progresses. As the injuries happened apart from club play, there are rumblings as to whether the English training staff kept him on the pitch knowing the full extent of his injuries.
And with dance moves like these, a Sturridge goal is always a treat.
Dejan Lovren
The Liverpool defender is an important part of the back-line scheme that the Reds rely on, especially as their goal-scoring production has dropped this season. Lovren suffered a tear in his abdominal wall on Oct. 9 while training with Croatia ahead of the Euro 2016 qualifiers.
While he has just returned to the lineup, it is clear that he is not playing at full strength. What is also clear is his importance to his club team, as Liverpool fell earlier in the week to Real Madrid at Anfield, 3-0.
The Reds paid Southampton just over $32 million for Lovren, a pretty steep price for a defender. While he is only 24, Lovren is not immune to injuries, and as the club is under pressure to perform at last year’s level, injuries such as this make that task a bit more difficult to achieve. With the next set of Euro qualifiers set for mid-November, expect Croatia to call up Lovren for national team duty. But is he fit enough not to suffer yet another injury?
Diego Costa
Currently one of the leading goal scorers in the EPL this season, he has played sparingly for Chelsea before the international break in order to give his nagging hamstring injury a chance to heal.
Called up by the Spanish National Team for two Euro 2016 qualifiers earlier this month, he played the entire game in both matches and was returned to his home club (you guessed it) with a hamstring injury. He has been forced to sit out numerous matches since his return to the Blues.
Losing a game-changing player of his caliber has caused his normally-reserved manager Jose Mourinho to question the wisdom of the Spanish medical team and manager. The decision to allow a player who entered camp with an injury to compete in two competitive matches is a poor one. A player who is potentially a gamechanger cannot be easily replaced at the club level, and a club team’s success often rides on key players performing at their best. And his team needs him out there healthy to score goals like this.
