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.
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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.
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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.
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"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'.
"One-on-one coaching and his knee blows up, but everything was closed, you could get an operation or go to physio, nothing.
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"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.
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"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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Topics: Football, Liverpool, Jamie Carragher, Premier League
Alex Brotherton