That was the news that confronted Owen Hargreaves when he visited the world renowned Dr Richard Steadman at his Vail clinic high in the Colorado Mountains last winter.
But the overwhelming feeling was one of relief for United's midfielder.
"Going to Colorado and getting the diagnosis from Dr Steadman was a dark day," Hargreaves said.
"When I got to the Vail clinic he said 'I have rarely ever seen a tendon look like that in my 35 years of working'.
"It was hard to take because this was coming from a guy who was 72 years old and had seen a lot of knees!
"But it was refreshing in some ways because I had received so many contradicting opinions about what was actually wrong with my knees.
"Dr Steadman explained I had an extreme form of tendonitis. Him explaining to me what I had after having the symptoms he was describing for so long it all finally made sense.
"It was a dark day but it was a relief because I realised I could then get on with things and deal with them.
"I was a bit negative that day and maybe the day after my first surgery on the left knee which was the worst of the two tendons. I was down and in a lot of pain and I thought 'why me?'
"But all those self-defeating things I tried to leave them behind and focus on getting better every day."
Hargreaves' plight had begun soon after returning from a broken leg suffered in his last season at Bayern Munich in the autumn of 2006.
As the acrimonious saga over his move from Germany to Old Trafford stretched ever onwards, Hargreaves broke his fibula in a Bundesliga match.
It was to have massive consequences. Sir Alex Ferguson's 12-month pursuit of the England star ended in him finally nailing down the best England player of the 2006 World Cup for £18m when Bayern reluctantly gave in.
Hargreave concerns
But the newcomer arrived at his new club with nagging injury concerns. And being a costly buy after such a public chase didn't help.
"Part of the problem for me was my competitiveness," he added. "I was new to Manchester United and they had spent a lot of time, energy and money in getting me from Bayern Munich. I wanted to do well obviously.
"I came with the symptoms but everyone said don't worry it will go and so I always tried to be available. But playing on it made it worse. I wanted to play though so I played through it.
"After I broke my leg at Bayern they put me in a cast. The muscle deteriorates being in that and when I came out of it after six weeks and started to play again I don't think my muscle was strong enough.
"All the force, instead of going through the muscle went through the tendon. I had a slight twinge in my knee, we did some sprint training one day, something just went, and I didn't know what it was.
"My knee almost locked and I couldn't do anything. I was told to rest and I did. Then the transfer to United went through.
"I had the medical here and they could see I had some slight trouble but it was figured with time it would get better.
"A normal person if something hurts you just stop but for me I don't have that choice. If it hurts I think I can play through it. That's what I did but it was only making things much much worse.
"There were times though when I felt pretty good. Then last four weeks of my first season in 2007-08, I felt great.
"The game for England against the USA three days after the Champions League final was the best I had felt. So I was very excited about coming back for pre-season."
But his left knee began hurting again in preparation for the new campaign and the right knee was also paining the midfielder.
Knee surgery
After appearing against Liverpool, Villarreal and Chelsea in September 2008 Hargreaves knew D-Day had arrived.
"I was hoping I wouldn't need surgery but to save my career that was the only course of action available," he said.
Hargreaves had heard impressive stories about Steadman's work in the US so he booked in and spent the majority of the time since across the Atlantic.
Steadman took out dead tissue and scar tissue in both knees leaving huge holes in both. Tissue from dead bodies is often used to repair tendons but as an athlete the United player was told that wasn't the best course of action for him because it carried no guarantees of getting back.
Despite initial fears that the midfielder's left knee was so bad it would be the answer, Steadman was able to use Hargreaves' own live tissue for the repair job.
It has given the 28-year-old more than a fighting chance.
Reds boss Sir Alex Ferguson says Hargreaves was brave to undergo his rehab on his own away from Carrington in America but the player says it proved to be the best course of action.
"When you have such a long term injury it is difficult having to see your team-mates going out every day training and playing," Hargreaves said.
"It is tough to be confronted by it every day when you are not fit. It was better off being in a tiny ski village with only 2,000 people and focusing on rehab. All I did was eat, sleep and train. It was a blessing being there.
"I don't think you could do anything better. The surgeon was close by. Any time I had any issues I could see him. If I had been in England I would have had to fly back ten hours to see him.
"It is not easy to get there. You have to fly to Denver and then you have a two hour shuttle up the mountain to the clinic so anybody who was there was focused on getting better. I felt at ease there."
Now he is delighted to be back in Manchester.
"It may have cost me an important year of my career at a very good age but I will add another season on at the end and instead of finishing maybe at 34 I will play to 35 or whatever!" he added.
"I feel very good where I am at now. I like to think going through this will make me stronger. It was a difficult injury but I like to think it is behind me now."
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Can we sue bayern for selling us faulty goods?,he's an ok player but how much where we robbed, 18million for a player no one else was intrested in, was dying to come to us and to top it all he has a terrible injury record, and we haven't learned our lesson yet another 18 million shelled out for valencia, another ordinary player attracting no intrest from others.
Good article. I so hope he comes through.
Edinburgh Red - On Hargreaves, apart from Middlesbrough and Spurs there was little interest for Hargeaves especially at the quoted price. The problem for us was we were trying to buy him after he had a good World Cup so his value pretty much doubled and Bayern reasoned that if we would pay £14m for a guy on the England fringes (Carrick) then why not £18m for someone who was playing for the 1st team.
Valencia was actually wanted by Liverpool and Madrid, but from what I gather we engineered a position for ourselves where we had first refusal. We probably overpaid due to the interest from other clubs, but I like what I've seen from Valencia. He has all the attributes of an old-fashioned winger and just needs to work on attacking the space and gaining confidence. He is not the finished article but I think with the right coaching he will win a few people over on here come the end of the season.
edinburgh red, edinburgh
How could we sue Bayern - he said the issue came up in his medical.
Sounds pretty gruesome. Hopefully he'll get back fit and strong.
Interesting to actually get from info from the horses mouth :p
edinburgh red, edinburgh 8/10/2009 at 11:16 nice to see you're your usual cheerful self....I think OH had made it clear he would only leave BM for Man United so any other interest would have never come to anything and I think when playing well he's a bit more than an ok player.......
Valencia is nowhere near the finished articule but he clearly has protential and SAF has always bought players who are still evolving so he can get them playing the Man United way!
You can’t just emphasise enough how much Hargreaves is needed in the team. If he fights his way into the first team, this is the guy who should be given the armband. There are a lot of qualities, not least his commitment, which definitely should earn him the captaincy at Old Trafford. One guy who'll naturally be delighted about Hargo's resurrection is Fabio Capello. But no more than some of us do, of course.
edinburgh red - Hargreaves is not ORDINARY! Don't quite know how you can arrive at that conclusion, but ill agree on Valencia on what i've seen so far!
Welcome back Hargo! Does this spell curtains for Carrick's world cup hopes? I cannot believe Carrick is now behind Barry of Citeh. Get your act together Carrick! Oh and Valencia is rubbish.
Lord Ruud, what have you seen from Valencia that you like ?? I get confused myself when people say this. I dont want to slate a player who is new to the club and he must be given time and will be. The best qaulities he has displayed so far for me is that for a winger he is quite intelligent in terms of keeping the ball. Anything else I want from a winger I am waiting to see.
The firsty decision should be no England duty until united are 100% convinced that he is sorted. Screw Capello. United career first. If he is truly fit and VDS is fit then we will have a massive boost.
Finished
edingburgh red.
sale of faulty goods??????
hargreaves injury record over the previous seven seasons at bayern was appalling take a look. and now it has got even worse at united. whatever way it is painted we signed a crock at a massivley inflated price that no other major club would touch with a barge pole. WHY?
bobbydazzler, Eh I'm moaning at bayern for selling us a crock and for us for buying him, then at an inflated price
Owen has been out that long now it seems that some of us have forgotten just how good he is. He was one of Englands best players if not the best at the World Cup and I agree with the posts about his price doubling because of it. His energy levels are second to none and he has a football brain to go with it. How long did he play at Bayern? And that was when they were the top German club too. He is now 28 and I hope these operations have been a complete success for him but he is at the right club to make a successful comeback because of the quality we have. It is not a case of him being the only great player here and lets get him on the field pdq. Good luck Hargo you deserve it.
Good post Lord Rudd but as I posted before my disapointment with Valencia is due to a great preseason and the fact he has showed nowhere near that form since. Still he has got great skill and ability so lets see how it all turns out for him.
When we signed OH, we signed probably the best player in his position in the world. He has been injured the entire time he's been at United, so he really shouldn't be judged on that time, but he still put in some quality performances. He and Michael Ballack were one of the most feared midfeild combinations in Europe, and I haven't seen much in Ballack's time at Chelsea that's lived up to that billing. If we were to draw Barcelona in the latter stages of the Champion's League, I'll bet that Xavi & Iniesta get a shock when they're met with a fully fit pairing of DF & OH.
edinburgh red- I have said it before and Ill say it again. Keep yourself and your opinions to the confines of scotland pls. We do not need your 'support'. Now go out and purchase that season ticket at Hearts.
bobbydazzler, you exaggerate Hargreaves' injury record at Bayern. The first couple of years he was trying to break into the team and so didn't play that much. Sort of like Gibson for us. After that he was often rotated because Bayern had such a big squad. I saw Bayern three times one year and each time Hargreaves was on the bench but never got on. His relatively low number of appearances isn't all to do with injury.
Why do people get so peed off with supporters coming from all parts, not everyone can come from within spitting distance of OT - did you want fergie to stay in glasgow, best to stay in belfast, eric to stay in france and so on and so on.
When we signed OH, we signed probably the best player in his position in the world. Tyler Durden,
8/10/2009 at 13:11
I beg to differ. Senna was and would have 'walked to United' had we shown more committment in pursuing him. Instead we signed a 'crock' because at the time, for some reason, a statement was issued saying that 'we would prefer to sign English players! Now what a signing he would have been.
Oh and Valencia is rubbish.
Red Culture,
8/10/2009 at 12:17
If only he was as good as....................wait for it............Park!
Bill Wirrall - On Valencia, I think it will take him time to settle in at United. Don't forget he was playing in the Ecuador league just over 3 years ago. He then came to Wigan where little was expected of him. Suddenly he is at United where he is playing with better players and to a higher level, with lazy comparisons to Ronaldo. I think with the right coaching he'll get there.
Lee - Rather than concentrate on the fact Valencia's final ball has often been poor so far and he sometimes lacks the confidence to run into open space, I like the fact he is always looking to get a cross in especially with Nani and Park not the best at doing this. He also has holds his position well, is neat and tidy on the ball, is stronger than he looks, and has a turn of pace that once he learns how to use effectively will be a great asset. His best moments so far for me was forcing a mistake against Stoke before racing clear and linking up well with Berbatov against Wolfsburg in a moment that was a bit Cantona/Kanchelskis in it's execution (without the Andrei finish). Unfortunately on both occassions his finishing was poor but my point is the tools are there to make him a fast wide man capable of creating and chipping in with goals for the team. Like you say It's just going to take time for him to settle and learn from the coaches to be more aggressive when he has space to run into that he didn't get at Wigan. But I think he will turn out okay for us.
OH is a superior player to Valencia, better defensively, better crossing ability and almost as pacy, and a deadball specialist.
edinburgh red- I have said it before and Ill say it again. Keep yourself and your opinions to the confines of scotland pls. We do not need your 'support'. Now go out and purchase that season ticket at Hearts.
Elb Owdeep,
8/10/2009 at 13:21
Seriously what is your problem. If its not giving edinburgh-red a hard time its doing the same with Gilly of Belgium. Who do you think you are. We should not give a damn where people come from or where they live as long as they support United. So reel in your neck none of us care. I don't agree with ed-reds opinions either but he is entitled to them. All you can bitch about is where people live so give it a rest!
Edinburgh red - elbowdeep is a bertie mate.
Jim, sorry mate, i'm not homophobic just making fun of the user name, anyone who supports united is good enough for me