Ex-Premier League star Stuart Dallas forced to retire aged 32 after TWO YEARS injured as Leeds ace says ‘I’m devastated’
STUART DALLAS has been forced to quit football at 32 – two years on from a devastating leg break suffered in a collision with Jack Grealish.
The Northern Irishman fractured his right femur when clashing thighs with England star Grealish in Leeds’ 4-0 home defeat to Manchester City on April 30, 2022.
Dallas did return to first-team training in September, 18 months on from the freak event, but has now accepted that his knee has “suffered irreparable damage”, prompting retirement.
The ex-Brentford winger wrote on X: “With a heavy heart, I announce that I will be retiring from professional football.
“Over the past two years, the Leeds United medical team, along with the incredible surgeons in London, have worked tirelessly to help me recover from the injury I sustained.
“Sadly, despite their best efforts, and my body not progressing how we need it to, I must now accept the fact that my knee suffered irreparable damage and I will not be returning to play professional football.
“I am of course devastated by this news.
“As a young boy growing up in Cookstown, Northern Ireland, all I ever wanted was to play professional football and I will be eternally grateful that for me, that dream came true.
“This may not be how fairytales are supposed to end, but I must now deal with the fact that this chapter of my life is drawing to a close.”
Dallas began his career at local side Coagh United, then moved to then-League One side Brentford via a stint at Crusaders.
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In 2015 he switched to Leeds for around £1.3million and went on to make 266 appearances, as well as winning 62 caps for his country and playing at Euro 2016.
He was a key player for Marcelo Bielsa when the iconic Argentine won Leeds promotion to the Premier League and comfortably kept them up playing exciting, attacking football.
Dallas scored twice in a famous 2-1 win at the Etihad against Pep Guardiola’s City in April 2021, just over a year before he sustained his catastrophic injury against the same team.