Jordan Willis and seven other Sunderland careers ruined by injury

Sadly, Sunderland have seen their fair share of cruel injuries. Here are eight of them.

Michael Graham | Nov 16, 2023

Jordan Willis and seven other Sunderland careers ruined by injury /

Injuries are just really part and parcel of football, but they are still sad when serious ones happen. Sunderland have seen their fair share.

This week, Niall Huggins has lifted the lid on his injury nightmare and admitted that during the two years between signing and him finally being able to get a run in the first team, he '100%' feared for his career.

Thankfully, it appears that Huggins come through his problems and now showing the word what he can do in a Sunderland shirt. Sadly, not all have been so lucky.

Here are some examples of Sunderland players who we never got to see the best of due to injury.

Matt Piper

When Matty Piper signed for Sunderland it was a genuinely exciting bit of business from the club. The then-20-year-old had already made a huge impression tearing down the right wing for his beloved Leicester City.

Sunderland were crying out for some pace and mobility at this time too, and Piper looked a perfect fit. It never worked out, though.

Piper suffered a serious knee injury and that was just the start. In the end he was restricted to just 15 starts in three years for Sunderland before being forced to retire at 26-years-old.

Matt Piper - Sunderland winger had awful luck with injuries / IMAGO

Anthony Smith

It’s a strange irony that, if you google careers wrecked by injury, Arsenal’s Abou Diaby is pretty much top of every list. Diaby’s injury problems started with a nasty tackle from Dan Smith against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

However, Dan’s older brother Anthony suffered a similar fate. Anthony Smith was also a left-back and a very good one.

So good, in fact, that Bristol City’s Andy Llewellyn got so sick of Smith torturing him with his explosive dribbles forward in a game at Roker Park in 1993, he scythed him down and broke his leg. Just two years later Anthony Smith was forced to retire, and an incredibly promising career was over before it had even began.

“It’s a club that’s still very close to my heart, and always will be,” Smith said in 2014. “It’s my hometown club, I had a great time there and I’ve got great memories.

“It’s the best job in the world, as a youngster, leaving school and being in that environment.

“Back then they were proper apprenticeships - cleaning boots, toilets, you name it. That gave you a good grounding, and if the seniors saw you putting that in they had respect for you.

“At a young age, you’re surrounded by your heroes. These are lads you’ve stood on the terraces and watched, and all of a sudden you’re playing alongside them.

“It’s a dream come true. I had the best six or seven years of my life as a player."

Duncan Watmore

I’m very appreciative of the fact you have to use the word ‘ruined’ very carefully here. After all, Duncan Watmore is still playing Championship football with Millwall. This is also a list of players whose Sunderland careers were ruined too, not careers in general.

Also, Watmore probably should have been a lot more than a Championship squad-filler.

Watmore started his career at Manchester United but was released. He later joined Altrincham before moving to Sunderland in 2013.

It was all going well and he was a key part of the England under-21 team that would the Toulon Tournament in 2016.

However, it all started going horribly wrong in December 2016 when he did his cruciate ligament in a home win over Leicester. He then suffered a recurrence just a month after his return.

He’s still a good player now and one for whom Sunderland fans will still likely hold plenty of affection, but oh what might have been.

Jordan Willis

Jordan Willis is another player who appears to have been completely cursed by injury just as a very promising career was getting going.

Willis made his breakthrough and Coventry and was Sunderland’s best defender in League One. He brought an athleticism and physicality that was seriously lacking.

It all came to a crashing end, though. He ruptured a knee ligament in February 2021 and then suffered a major setback just a few months later.

Thankfully, Willis is slowly getting himself back into football now. He played nine times for Wycombe last season and is currently with Northampton Town. The player he could have been appears to be long gone, though.

David Meyler

Midfielder Meyler was able to play Premier League football elsewhere / IMAGO

If David Meyler is to be believed, and there is no reason he shouldn’t be, his injury in December 2010 cost him a move to Liverpool.

The Irishman had only been at the club for five months when he went down in a heap in a Premier League game against Manchester United.

“I did my cruciate, lateral, medial [ligaments], ripped bone off my kneecap and snapped, I’m going to say, my bicep femoris – the side of your knee that allows it all to move, I ripped that off so it had to be reattached,” he recalled.

“I went in to tackle Patrice Evra and he basically just leant across me and my knee just went like a pretzel, I just fell on to it and made a complete mess of it.

“The surgeon told me I’d never play again and even he said, ‘If you were to make a miraculous recovery it’ll be 18 to 24 months before you play.’”

Meyler did play again, though, eight months later, and that was when Liverpool were hovering. Sadly though, he then did his cruciate again.

In fairness, he still captained his country, played Premier League football, and played in an FA Cup final, so he did alright. It’s just a shame that he couldn’t do more, particularly in a Sunderland shirt.

Craig Gordon

Craig Gordon is back on the comeback trail right now after breaking his leg whilst playing for Hearts against Dundee United, but it’s nothing he hasn’t faced before.

Gordon was incredibly highly rated as a young player and he joined Sunderland for what was then a British record fee for a goalkeeper in 2007.

He stayed for the full length of his five-year deal, but only managed 95 appearances during that time.

The first bad injury came when a collision with Jermain Defoe left him with a broken arm that required a metal place to be screwed into place, but there were also knee injuries too.

It actually took Gordon two years to get a new club after leaving Sunderland, such was the severity of his injuries, and it’s a genuine shame he never got to fulfil his potential.

Colin Healy

When Colin Healy joined Sunderland from Celtic it was a bit of a coup. He had made his breakthrough at Celtic and, not long before, there was a lot of Premier League interest in the midfielder.

He had also broken into the Ireland team and, since he was from Cork, a few lazy comparisons with Roy Keane were being made. In fact, he was the man called into the Ireland squad to replace Keane following the incident in Saipan, although he was not able to in the end. He was never anywhere near Keane’s level, of course, but he was still a very good footballer.

He started okay as well, but after just 16 starts Healy suffered a horrific leg-break against Coventry in a live Sky TV game.

He did make it back to training, only for the then manager Mick McCarthy to break his leg again in a challenge, although it’s clear it never really healed properly the first time.

Healy never really made it back after that, although he did play for hometown Cork City for many years.

Fraizer Campbell

When Sunderland signed Fraizer Campbell from Manchester United in 2009, he was one of the top young strikers in the country.

He had fired Hull to promotion and then gone on loan to Tottenham. It looked like Sunderland had bought some real promise.

Back with a bang! 💥

Fraizer Campbell returned to score a stunner after 18 months out through injury#GoalOfTheDay // @SunderlandAFC pic.twitter.com/Lfz4ZBNdyw
— Premier League (@premierleague) April 29, 2021

And he had his moments for Sunderland. One particularly brilliant goal against Norwich springs to mind, and he won an England cap whilst on Wearside.

However, what he will likely be remembered most for is the injuries. He injured his anterior cruciate ligament. that kept him out for seven months, and when he returned he immediately suffered a recurrence, which put him out for another year.

He left having scored just 10 goals in nearly four years, and he was never able to fulfil that early promise.

Although not officially retired, he last played for Huddersfield in the 2022/23 season.