Cost of an Injury

The player whose injuries have cost the most during the past year is somewhat unsurprisingly Belgian superstar Eden Hazard. Since becoming the latest Galactico signing at Real Madrid he has hardly ever made it onto the pitch and amazingly has missed 252 days in the past year due to a combination of muscle injuries. Hazard is the third highest-paid player in La Liga as he earns £407,000 per week, therefore it has cost Los Blancos a massive £14.65 million in wages while he has been out, which is over a million more than his next nearest competitor.

Another Premier League talent who has spectacularly flopped in Spain following a huge transfer is attacking midfielder Philipe Coutinho. So far Coutinho has failed to score over ten league goals in a single season for Barcelona, and ironically his most memorable moment was scoring against them while on loan at Bayern Munich last season. As his transfer was the third most expensive of all time he was supposed to be the next superstar in Catalunya and consequently, he has a huge wage of £406,000 which combined with 233 days injured has cost Barca £13.51 million in the past year.

Now comes the man whose world-record transfer changed the face of football finances forever, the gobsmacking £198 million transfer from Barcelona to PSG in 2017 was more than double the previous transfer record. At times Neymar has looked like the best player in the world, but unfortunately, he has not pushed on to claim that title due to persistent injuries. During his time in Paris he has never made over 20 appearances in a league season, and in the last year missed 95 days, which cost the club £11.66 million as he is the third-highest player in the world on £859,000 per week.

Perhaps the most divisive player over the past half-decade or so is Paul Pogba, with some believing he is a world-class midfielder, and others seeing him as a waste of money by Manchester United. The World Cup-winning midfielder has shown moments of brilliance, and this combined with his world-record transfer at the time earns him £290,000 a week at Old Trafford. Unfortunately for manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer his star midfielder has spent a large portion of the past year out injured and has missed 230 days which has cost the club £9.52 million in wages while injured.

Borussia Dortmund captain Marco Reus is the only man in this top five who was not one of the most expensive signings of all time as he cost less than £15 million back in 2012, which seems like a bargain given the nine years of service he has given the German giants. However, one area where he wasn’t a bargain at all is in regards to injuries throughout his time at Dortmund as he has lost almost three years to persistent injuries, and 214 of those days were in the past year. Despite these injury issues when fit he has been one of the best players in Germany, earning £210,000 a week, which cost his club £6.42 million in the past year.