Injuries are an occupational hazard for football players and the odds of not getting injured during a career are pretty low, and some injuries can put a player out of action for a very long time.
Some players’ wage packets are huge, meaning if they are out injured for a long time, there is a substantial cost to the club with no reward.
We have studied the injuries of players in Europe’s top five divisions over the past year to calculate which players’ injuries have cost the most, and which clubs have spent the most money on paying their injured players.
1. Neymar Jr - Al Hilal
Days Injured - 411
Weekly Wage - £2,650,000
Money Lost Due to Injury - £25,037,474
Neymar Jr is associated with the highest transfers in history. The Brazilian left PSG for Al Hilal in the summer of 2023 for a whopping £75,4 million. However, since joining the Saudi Pro club, he has been plagued by injuries. Neymar was excluded from the pitch for 11 months just a few games from his debut at Al Hilal. He missed the entire 2024–25 season due to recurring hamstring injuries. The former Parisian winger has struggled to make an impact in the Saudi Pro League, spending 411 days sidelined by injuries. This has cost Al Hilal and the entire Saudi Pro League a fortune, as Neymar has made just seven appearances for the club.
2. Philippe Coutinho - Aston Villa
Days Injured - 42
Weekly Wage - £135,000
Money Lost Due to Injury - £17,000,266
Aston Villa signed Philippe Coutinho from Barcelona for over £112 million. The transfer aimed to relieve Barca of the injury-prone attacker. Since joining the Premier League side in 2022, Coutinho has struggled from one injury to another. Over the past two seasons, the Brazilian has missed more than 20 games due to fitness issues and hamstring injuries. Aston Villa have been forced to send him on loan to Vasco Da Gama, where he delivers inconsistent performances due to injury.
3. Manuel Neuer - Bayern München
Days Injured - 50
Weekly Wage - £340,565
Money Lost Due to Injury - £15,075,914
The German prolific goal-stopper, Neuer has had his fair share of injuries. Since 2017 Neuer has been serving as captain for Bayern Munich, proving to be a backbone for his team. However, since the 2024-25 season, Manuel Neuer has suffered from a torn muscle fibre, rib fractures, and thigh problems. He has been absent for a total of 50 days. Neuer is Bayern’s second most-paid player with an annual salary of £17.5 million. Since the 6th of March, the German goalkeeper has been sidelined due to a muscular fibre injury.
4. Eden Hazard - Real Madrid
Days Injured - 146
Weekly Wage - £400,000
Money Lost Due to Injury - £14,652,000
Eden Hazard’s shocking spell of injuries at Real Madrid has proven to be the worst in the club’s modern history. The Belgian was absent for 77 days in his first season due to a fissure of the fibula. Before retiring from football in 2023, Eden Hazard missed almost the entire season. Hazard moved to Real Madrid for a staggering £101,039,536. However, he hardly ever played in the colours of Los Blancos. To make matters worse he resigned from football in 2023, walking away with an underwhelming performance and a debt never to be paid to the Madrid fans.
5. David Alaba - Real Madrid
Days Injured - 394
Weekly Wage - £356,659
Money Lost Due to Injury - £11,010,888
David Alaba is by far one of the greatest defenders of his generation, but he has been whisked off the pitch too often, due to ligament injuries. The Real Madrid centre-back earns a weekly wage of £356,659 so it costs a fortune when he is absent from games. David Alaba has missed over 60 games throughout the 2023-25 season, costing the club over 11 million pounds.
Chelsea
In the Premier League this season, no club has spent more on injuries than Chelsea. Players like Wesley Fofana have cost the club nearly a fortune due to long spells off the pitch. He was sidelined for 349 days, missing 75.7% of available game time, which cost the club £9,971,429 in wages. Chelsea’s first-team squad since the 2023 season have cost the club over £44 million pounds due to injuries.
Manchester United
Manchester United has had a healthy squad for most of its history, but since the 2023-24 season, the club has faced tumultuous times. Players like Paul Pogba, Luke Shaw, and Anthony Martial played a significant role in United’s hefty injury cost. Rafael Varane and Lisandro picked up on the injury streak, costing United millions of pounds.
Real Madrid
Real Madrid has spent an average of three million pounds on player injuries in the past two seasons. Defenders such as David Alaba have consistently been sidelined due to injuries. With a total cost on injuries of over 38 million pounds, Real Madrid is one of the clubs spending the most on injured players.
Injuries – Using personal injury records for each player from https://www.transfermarkt.com we
calculated how many days each player had missed in the last twelve months, from April 2020 to March 2021.
Wages – To find out the wages for Premier League players we
collected the data from Spotrac: https://www.spotrac.com/epl/. And for the data on wages from all the other leagues we
used https://salarysport.com.
