Jamie Carragher opens up on being in 'dark place' over his son and reveals panicked phone call

Jamie Carragher has opened up on his recent mental health struggles due to his son's injury issues.

Carragher enjoyed a 17-year career with Liverpool, and while he suffered a couple of serious injuries, he largely managed to avoid muscular issues and niggling injuries.

Unfortunately, his son James has not enjoyed the same luck.

The 21-year-old centre-back currently on the books at League One club Wigan Athletic, and spent the second half of the 2023-24 campaign on loan at Inverness Caledonian Thistle in Scotland.

However, a reoccurring knee issue threatened to end the youngster's career, taking a serious toll on both his and his father's mental health.

In a special episode of The Overlap x Gillette ahead of Father's Day, Carragher joined Ian Wright and Peter Schmeichel to discuss what it's like to be the father of a professional footballer.

Carragher opened up on his son's knee injury and revealed a panicked phone call he received from him.

"12 months ago I was in a dark place over my son's injuries. I wouldn't wish that on my own enemy," Carragher said.

"I didn't get injured [as a player]. I'll be honest, my mentality with injuries, even when I was at Liverpool. I'd go in the treatment room and see people on the bed and think 'they're faking it, they're not tough enough', because I didn't get injured, I didn't understand how people got injured.

"Now I had a broken leg, I had a knee operation, but in terms of hamstrings, calves or something not feeling right, I would always play through things, that's just the way I was brought up.

"I would dismiss people for it because I couldn't understand, but then my own son went through it.

"He had a knee problem on the back of Covid - so Covid came in so no one could go to the training ground, so I said 'you'll have to do a bit of training on your own because we don't know when you'll go back'.

Jamie Carragher has spoken about his mental health struggles (Image: Getty)

"One-on-one coaching and his knee blows up, but everything was closed, you could get an operation or go to physio, nothing.

"His knee would keep swelling up and swelling up. It went on for a couple of years, and he had the operation and I'm thinking he'll be back now. He'd been playing on with it, taking anti-inflammatories, played non-league at Oldham.

"He then got a knock on the knee so we said let's get the operation.

"He then starts pre-season, I go on holiday, and as soon as he phones me - it was a big day, his first day back with the group - I knew already, my stomach dropped. As soon as I got that phone call I booked a flight that night, I knew he couldn't be at home on his own.

"Seeing him and what we did to get to the bottom of the issue last summer, I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy.

"I was thinking 'Is he going to play again'. I remember on the flight home I made a list of things that me and him could do together if he couldn't play again, I was thinking I've got to keep him going, because mentally... I knew where I was, but what about him?

"For me it was probably one of the darkest moments of my life."

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