It’s the silent assassin of footballers, the bullet that can strike even when the enemy is nowhere near – and it felled one of the best, most talked-about and sexiest British footballers the game has ever seen.
The killer is the snapped Achilles tendon, the injury that sent David Beckham hobbling off the field and collapsing in a distraught heap during a recent match for AC Milan against Chievo Verona.
He knew: not only were his 2010 World Cup dreams in ruins, the career that brought a special touch of magic to the beautiful game is in all likelihood over too.
And Becks, as anyone close to him will tell you, loves football more than anything in the world – apart from Victoria and their boys, that is. He may have made an obscene amount of money from it but despite the circus that surrounds him he remains humble, good-natured and obsessed with the sport.
“Life without it is something he has no doubt contemplated – but not yet,” a close source says. “He wanted to make history and become the first Englishman to play in four World Cups. That was the whole reasoning behind being loaned to AC Milan from LA Galaxy: to get fit to take on the best.”
It will be at least six months before he’s anywhere near ready to play again.
Read the full article in the latest issue of YOU.