Former Manchester United and England player Ashley Young will require a hip replacement at the age of 41, a condition that contributed to his decision to retire from football.
Young announced his retirement at the end of last season, following Ipswich Town's promotion to the Premier League. His career spanned 23 years and included stints with Manchester United, Aston Villa, Watford, Inter Milan, and Everton. He also represented England in the 2012 European Championships and the 2018 World Cup.
Speaking on the High Performance Podcast, Young detailed how a hip issue, first experienced in November, had progressed. He initially received an injection for the pain, adhering to his personal rule of considering retirement if medical intervention became necessary.
"Basically I need a hip replacement," Young stated. "In November I was told I would need it in about 10 years time."
However, by January, an anticipated injection to help him finish the season was delayed when he suffered a worsening injury during training. "I go down on my hip in November and had an injection. I have always said to myself ‘If my body is saying you need injections, there is a problem, you need to think about retiring’," Young explained. "About a week before I am about to have the injection, I go down on it in training and I am like ‘this is worse, I know it is a lot worse’."
Doctors informed Young that his hip condition had significantly deteriorated. He was told the joint was effectively "bone on bone" due to a lack of cartilage, a result of "overuse" throughout his extensive career, which included 765 club appearances and 39 England caps.
Young admitted he was unable to train for approximately three months leading up to the end of the season due to the severity of the pain. Despite this, he pushed through to assist Ipswich in their promotion push. "The physios and doctors have said to me, particularly this season ‘have you had a problem with your hip before’ and I was like ‘No’, they were like ‘are you sure because you are basically bone on bone, there is no cartilage there, that is why you are getting so much pain’," he said.
He recalled telling a specialist, "I’m not going out like this." Although advised against further injections that could weaken the area, Young expressed his determination to play. "Are you telling me I can’t play football again, you can say it if you want, trust me if I get an opportunity to be back on the pitch, I’ll be back on the pitch."
He trained daily in the final two months of the season, a regimen doctors deemed medically inadvisable. Young made himself available for the final three games of the season and traveled with the team.
Young described the club's promotion as a fitting conclusion to his career. His trophy cabinet includes Premier League, Europa League, FA Cup, and League Cup titles from his time at Manchester United, as well as a Serie A title with Inter Milan in 2021. He is not the first former Premier League player to undergo a hip replacement; Erik Lamela revealed in April that he had the procedure, hoping it would provide a pain-free life after years of discomfort.