Manchester United goalkeeper Paul Woolston reveals reason behind retirement at 23 after warning from doctors

Speaking to BBC Sport (h/t The Sun), former Manchester United goalkeeper Paul Woolston revealed the reason behind his retirement from a playing career last month after doctors warned him about the consequences of his injury.

Only 23, the shot-stopped was forced to hang up his gloves after a diagnosis made by the doctors who treated him for a hip injury that he had suffered. The player was out of action for more than a year because of this problem.

Woolston said that the advice of the specialists that he was seeing was that if he continued playing with the injury for another two years, then he would struggle to walk later on in life. Unfortunately for the Englishman, he had to bring his career to a halt soon after.

“I completely zoned out. Is he talking about me? Is this real? Surely this is wrong? It can’t be me. It can’t be right. The advice of the specialists was if I continued for another two years, my way of life would be totally different, that I would struggle to walk.”

The 23-year-old was part of the reserve set-up at United, and could very well have knocked on the doors of the first team if he impressed. The next step on his journey into the first team would be to then try and compete with David de Gea and Dean Henderson for a spot in the starting line-up, but it was not meant to be for the goalkeeper.

“From there it is a long road”

Aside from de Gea and Henderson, the current senior squad also has Tom Heaton and Lee Grant prove back-up to these stars. Heaton was re-signed by the club from Aston Villa on a free transfer last summer, nearly 11 years after he departed Manchester.

Woolston said that he would have had to get a full hip replacement at the age of 25 if he played on with his injury, and he opted to retire rather than face the long and difficult road of having to explain to his kids in the future because of his ruined hip.

“It would be a full hip replacement at the age of 25. From there it is a long road. It was simple things like, if I am lucky to have kids in the future, I didn’t want to say: ‘Sorry, I can’t do it because I have ruined my hip.'”

It is never nice to hear about players forced to retire early due to injury, especially when they would have had such promising careers to look forward to, as Woolston did. Coming through the ranks at Carrington is a big deal, with the academy famed for bringing up the brightest talents in the country.

His journey to the first team would have been long and hard though, given the talents standing between him and the No. 1 spot at the club. de Gea and Henderson are arguably two of the finest shot-stoppers in the Premier League, and the former is firmly established as the first-choice in the team.

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Woolston has also been capped by England at the youth level, turning out for his country at the Under-18 and Under-17 levels previously. Evidently, the player was destined for greater things on the pitch, but an unfortunate hip injury has caused him to rethink his career.

We can only hope that the recently retired star goes on and does well in avenues outside the football pitch. There is more to life than just the game after all, and Woolston may do well with other opportunities that come his way. In the end, he can always be proud to have worn the famous Red Devils jersey in his career.