England defender Ledley King happy to risk future health at World Cup
Ledley King(credit:
TottenhamFan)
England defender Ledley King is happy to risk his future health to continue playing as long as possible.
The Tottenham captain continues to manage a degenerative knee problem which prevents him training him every day and playing several matches over a short space of time.
But King is the bookmakers’ favourite to replace injured Rio Ferdinand as one of England’s centre-backs at the World Cup, and he admits he will not let fears over his knee affect his decisions.
The 29-year-old said: “There is not a day goes by where you don’t think about the knee. It’s something I have to deal with.
“I can’t stretch my knee up to stretch my groin. I can’t grab hold of my knee in that way, so there are definitely restrictions with it.
“I’ve had scans going back over the last two or three years and the knee has not really got worse.
“It’s nice to know that it’s in a similar situation to when I had the operation, if not better.
“But if (carrying on playing) does impact on me in later life then it will have been worth it.”
There have been concerns that King’s knee will not withstand the rigours of the World Cup, in which could play a maximum of seven games the space of a month.
And while he will not guarantee that his knee will hold up, King did promise to give everything for the cause.
“As a player, you don’t know what’s around the corner,” he continued.
“Rio (Ferdinand) has had a lot of problems this season, but what happened was just an off the cuff incident with his knee.
“No player can guarantee their fitness. What I can guarantee is that I will give 100 percent and I’m ready to play if need be and I feel I can perform at the highest level.”
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