Greatest 'pre-injury' xi ?

[V.O.]

Don't think I'd be able to find anybody to dislodge a Ronaldo, Kaka, or Del Piero from this side, but a couple of the following should be worthy of warming the bench:

Juan Valeron
Pablo Aimar
Ruben Baraja
Pato
Nuri Sahin

Valeron and Baraja's real problems with injuries might have been too late in their respective careers to count for the purposes of the thread, though.

 

[Gentleman Jim]

Ronaldo and van Basten for definite. Shearer before the first knee injury was some player.

Also Gazza, obviously.

Could Marco Reus have been an elite player? Certainly looked like he was on that trajectory.

Wonder if any city fans will dare to pipe up with Paul Lake?

Lakey was looking like the genuine article before his injuries (and the incompetent treatment he received) killed his career.
Colin Bell was the one that no sane, unbiased football fan of a certain age would argue with.

 

[Gopher Brown]

You’re all forgetting the greatest player City never had - Paul Lake

Edit: sorry, already mentioned

 

[royboy16]

Aguero !
Cech
Torres
Ronaldo
Owen
Woodgate
Kompany
Vermaelen
Van Basten
Essien

 

[Rossa]

Wes Brown. Heinze. Ronny Johnsen. Put Ledley King in there and you have a pretty good defense.

 

[SaboTaj]

Gareth Bale anyone?

 

[Welby5]

Some might snigger at this name but, Kerry Dixon before his hip njury. Never world class but a damn good old fashioned English centre forward with great pace and knew how to calmly put the ball away. He jumped for the ball on a hard pitch and hurt his hip on landing. When he returned he'd lost a yard and a half of pace and was never quite the same again.

 

[Tomuś]

Owen should be in there. Injuries caught up with him as time went on.

Definitely. My flawed memory seems to suggest he was overworked in his early days, which may have accelerated his future problems? Eduardo anyone? Also nice to have Gio mentioning Lubański. He knows his stuff, Gio.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Cech
Rafael King Woodgate Vermaelen
Hargreaves Essien
Kaka
Owen Adriano Ronaldo
​

Honourable mentions to Affelay, Cesc, Torres, Sturridge.

 

[Tomuś]

Gareth Bale anyone?

He would've been on plenty lists had he not been the great player he is as it is. Injuries simply mean he's got less playing time. Hardly an Owen or a Torres etc.

 

[Eckers99]

Lakey was looking like the genuine article before his injuries (and the incompetent treatment he received) killed his career.
Colin Bell was the one that no sane, unbiased football fan of a certain age would argue with.

Colin Bell I never saw but my family are all Reds and really rated him, so he must've been good!

As for Paul Lake, how many games did he actually play? I remember him being an enigma as everyone said he was great but nobody ever seemed to actually see in action.

 

[DrRodo]

Vicente. One of my favourite non utd players ever. He was linked to us at some point. Ridiculous gigsy-esque-dribbling and scored like 14 league goals in a title winning season where Valencia compited again Zidane Ronaldo et al.
After breaking his foot suffered muscle injuries and other problems, couldnt compete with other great left footed players in valencia (david silva, mata, alba who started as a LW) and ended up his career in the championship and retired at 33. I think without injuries he could have been one of the best wingers ever.

 

[Devil81]

Guissepi Rossi

 

[dcrompton]

Saha

 

[Hoof the ball]

Sebastien Deisler.

 

[Gentleman Jim]

Colin Bell I never saw but my family are all Reds and really rated him, so he must've been good!

As for Paul Lake, how many games did he actually play? I remember him being an enigma as everyone said he was great but nobody ever seemed to actually see in action.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Lake

We've no idea just how good he would have turned out to be so I'm not going to make any wild claims in that respect save to say that many good judges rated him very highly.

In style and versatility think of Bryan Robson. That's not to say that he'd be quite as good as him but he would have been a regular England International with better luck IMO.

 

[Lyricist]

Reus, yet he is still already on 3 all Bundesliga player of the month awards only this season. The man is an elite player, and he does it in the big games, too!

 

[RochaRoja]

Was Chris Kirkland ever actually good?

I remember he was really highly rated when he joined Liverpool but had a ridiculous number of injuries and turned out to be pretty crap.

 

[lysglimt]

2 players who haven't been mentioned:

a) Neil Webb - scored like 50 goals in 150 matches for Forest - and started his United-career with a brilliant goal against Arsenal in his debut. Then he got injured for England, and never looked the same player when he returned for us 6 months later.

b) Alan Shearer - seems like a strange pick for someone who was arguably the best goalscorer the Premier League has ever seen, but prior to his injury that kept him out 7-8 months he had blistering pace as well. He was still a quick player after his injury, but he lost that little bit of pace. Him not being lightning quick was probably the only thing that prevented him from being one of the best in the world.

 

[Adam_S]

Darren Fletcher? Had a couple of really good seasons for United then some absolutely horrible health problems.

 

[RedDevilCanuck]

Saha for United.

As complete a striker you would ever see. He was so good fergie moved on Ruud.

 

[The holy trinity 68]

I don’t know if has been mentioned yet but Wayne Rooney.

That Metatarsal injury in 2006 and that foot injury vs Bayern in 2010 had a big effect on him. Especially the Bayern injury. He was never the same player after that.

Testament to how good he was that he still went on to be United’s highest ever goal scorer.

 

[Escape Goat]

Roberto Baggio as great as he was spent most of his career managing injuries, imagine if he was 100%.

Baggio spent most of his career without knee cartilage; he was shaping up to be Maradona's spiritual heir before his injuries.

 

[Fiskey]

Anyone see Adrian Doherty play? Always lots of chat about him.

 

[The Don]

Luke Chadwick.

 

[Edgar Allan Pillow]

I'm struggling for fullbacks, which is winding me up.

Wes Brown perhaps. From being a solid starter in 2008 and in Fergie's words "without question the best natural defender this club has had for years", to playing for lower team and disappearing due to injuries. I reckon there is no pre and post period for him, but when he was fit, he was awesome.

 

[Fiskey]

Wes Brown perhaps. From being a solid starter in 2008 and in Fergie's words "without question the best natural defender this club has had for years", to playing for lower team and disappearing due to injuries. I reckon there is no pre and post period for him, but when he was fit, he was awesome.

I actually Wes is a good one anyway. Looked really promising in the treble season then did both knees, think he would have been a much better player.

 

[pawanraj]

Saha.. I still think if he had stayed fit, there was a high chance he would have been our starting striker, even over Ruud.

 

[BrianMcClair'sBarnet]

Del Piero.

 

[pawanraj]

Did Mackay's leg breaks do him in then, or is that something else? I'm struggling for fullbacks, which is winding me up.

Micah Richards perhaps?

 

[Fortitude]

Wes Brown perhaps. From being a solid starter in 2008 and in Fergie's words "without question the best natural defender this club has had for years", to playing for lower team and disappearing due to injuries. I reckon there is no pre and post period for him, but when he was fit, he was awesome.

After his CL-winning season performances, he's not out of place!

Going to give it a good think and come back to it. There must surely have been some potentially epic full-backs who were beset by injuries, just hard to drum them up out of nowhere!

 

[BrianMcClair'sBarnet]

Eddie Howe.

 

[Edgar Allan Pillow]

Owen Hargreaves

 

[BrianMcClair'sBarnet]

Marcelo Salas.
Wretched time at Juve after his big move from Lazio.

 

[royboy16]

I thought the OP said non Utd players

 

[SCP]

Fernando Redondo, Paulo Sousa, Paulo Futre, Vitor Baía.

 

[Decomposing In Paris]

Remember reading how Giggs had to change his running style to manage his hamstrings. Great a player as he obviously was, and perhaps a strange one to have on this list considering his longevity and success... but what a player he could have been with a yard more to his game.

 

[Righteous Steps]

How good was Del Piero before the injury? What was his ceiling? Would love to see some footage, as the Del Piero post injury was pretty good as well.

 

[Zehner]

Some other names that spring to mind, not necessarily in the best 11:

Garrincha (I know, special case, but it would be even weirder to not mention him)
De Rossi
Falcao
Vieri
Götze (although it is a sickness not an injury)
Badstuber
Gündogan
Ballack (although he was already quite old when he broke is foot)
Coman

 

[M16Red]

Gabriel Batistuta and R9, there is a video of them playing in the same team.... just awesome.