West Ham star Julia Simic nearly quit football after a horror injury left her out for a year
JULIA SIMIC has revealed how the excruciating pain she suffered daily from a knee injury made her almost quit football for good.
The West Ham midfielder, 30, is set to return to the WSL today away to Bristol City after a year out.
Despite spending the past 12 months grafting in the gym she was close to throwing in the towel on her career as her knee was still causing her agony.
But thanks to a new treatment in Germany she was able to make an emotional comeback in the Hammers’ 7-0 thumping of Crystal Palace in the Continental Cup on Wednesday.
The German said: “My return was unexpected because I was so close to retiring to be honest.
“Two or three times in the week before I said to a friend, ‘I’m going to the manager now’.
‘SO MUCH PAIN’
“I didn’t see it working out and I didn’t want to waste my time being in the gym for another four months.
“I was in so much pain that I couldn’t see myself playing but I tried a new injection and it finally got better.”
It has been a turbulent year for Simic and Hammers boss Matt Beard, who kept his faith that she would return.
Simic joined the club in July last year, just a month after Beard took over.
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She said: “We had some really tough conversations, two or three times we were sitting in his office and both almost crying because it has been a rollercoaster.
“He made me believe because sometimes I thought, ‘hey it’s not going to work at the end’.
“When he told me that he wanted to put me in the squad he had really glassy eyes and was almost crying, one tear came down and he brushed it away.”
Simic found it hard watching on the sidelines, unable to help her teammates battle on the pitch.
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She said: “A lot of people wouldn’t know how much my comeback means to me because I always look so happy.
“They didn’t see when I had bad days because I wouldn’t show it.
“It’s thanks to the club’s physiotherapist Jackson Bradley for being my rock and getting me back on the grass.”