Former Manchester United Defender Phil Jones Reveals 'Physical Injuries Made Me Mentally Weak'

Former Manchester United defender Phil Jones has broken his silence on the abuse he had to endure at the hands of trolls. Earlier this year, Jones retired from football while saying that he wanted to build a career in management. The English defender left Old Trafford in 2023. He has not competed professionally since leaving the club last year. Jones’ latter years with the Red Devils had gotten complicated with him slowly becoming subject to constant trolling on social media for being injury-prone. Speaking to The Sun, the ex-defender reflected on what he had to endure during the twilight of his career. “I’d been through that much trauma mentally,” he said in the interview.

Phil Jones also opened up on how the fans who abused him were unaware of the true extent of his injury battle. Speaking about his struggles, Jones admitted that the agony of his wrecked right knee was regularly controlled using painkillers and steroids. The fitness struggles also took a mental toll on him. After being asked if the absences and horrific abuse affected Jones, he replied, “Anybody who tells you that it doesn’t is lying. And as footballers, you have to put this mask on. You get paid a lot of money so you are not allowed to have feelings or emotions. The physical injuries made me mentally weak at times.”

Speaking about the backlash Phil Jones had to face because of the injury absences, he said, “Obviously people will ask, ‘he is always injured?’ as though they think that I wake up one day and think, ‘oh, yeah, I fancy being injured today’. But my coping mechanism was to be silent, put my guard up, my shield up around with my really close family.”

During his time with Blackburn Rovers, Phil Jones tore his meniscus as an 18-year-old. This led to the defender undergoing surgery at the club with surgeons having to remove his meniscus. Eventually, Sir Alex Ferguson decided to bring the Englishman to Manchester United in 2011 but it was only the beginning of his injury nightmare at the new club. His knee issue showed up again, a year after his move. Phil Jones eventually retired from football last month.