FORMER Premier League star Greg Halford has recalled the time he almost missed out on a move to Cardiff due to a horrific ankle injury.
Halford, now 38, reunited with Neil Warnock at the Cardiff City Stadium in January 2017 after leaving Rotherham.
PAGreg Halford suffered a horrific ankle injury before a proposed move to Cardiff[/caption]
youtube – Under The CoshThe defender recently discussed the impact his injury had on his transfer[/caption]
However, the transfer almost didn’t happen.
That’s because the defender suffered a horrific ankle injury during a match against Leeds just two months prior.
During an interview for the Undr The Cosh podcast, Halford revealed that he ruptured every ligament in his ankle.
But he managed to return to action just four weeks later before securing his dream transfer.
Discussing his move to Cardiff, Halford said: “After [Alan] Stubbs came in at Rotherham I was in contact with Warnock and I was like ‘come on, take me’.
“I had to wait until January and I was like ‘please take me, please take me.’
“And then at the end of November I did my ankle. Kalvin Phillips did my ankle in the first minute of a Sky game and I thought that’s me done.
“I ruptured every single ligament in my ankle, I had no idea how it didn’t break.
“I was probably 30 at that time, I thought I’m done here. I’m going to need surgery.
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“And then I just worked by b****** off to get back. Within four weeks, Boxing Day, I was back on the bench and I came on.
“It wasn’t even fully healed because when I got to Cardiff in January I did my medical, had all my scans and they weren’t attached.
“So I was still playing with it. I couldn’t strike a ball further than 20 yards, but I could side foot it which was weird.
“Warnock was like ‘I don’t care, just do it’.
“He wanted me in the room.”
Halford went on to make 33 appearances for Cardiff before joining Aberdeen.
He now plays for Essex-based side Hashtag United.
The defender recently opened up about his autism diagnosis, admitting that he never told anyone in football about it until recently.