Premier League injury pay costing £123m a season

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Premier League football clubs pay £123m per season in wages to injured players, JLT Speciality has calculated, with Manchester United paying the most.

Over the 2012/13 and 2013/14 seasons, Manchester United paid £34m for players who were injured.

The team with the least cost of injuries was Hull City for the 2012/13 and 2013/14 seasons, which paid out under £2m.

While Manchester United had the most injuries, Tottenham Hotspur was the most impacted team, measured by calculating the value of the player and how long they have been absent due to injury.

The least impacted team was Bolton Wanderers, which was also the team which had the least injuries between the 2011/12 and 2014/15 seasons.

While the largest clubs all had prominent injury problems and were highly impacted, Manchester City and Chelsea, the premiership winners of the last two years were lower down the tables, at 4th and 15th respectively.

Duncan Fraser, head of sport at JLT Specialty, said: "Looking at the winners of the last two Premiership seasons and their injury record compared to their nearest rivals, the importance of keeping players fit is very clear.

"Chelsea and Man City have been far more fortunate in this regard than the likes of Man United and Spurs.

"As wages escalate in the top division - partly thanks to the injection of cash into the league from new TV deals - so too does the cost to clubs of injury absences.

Fraser added: "In the 2013/14 season alone, almost £130 million was paid out to players who were unable to take to the field due to fitness issues.

"As a result, clubs are increasingly looking to insure their players so that, if they get injured for a prolonged period of time, they can claim a certain percentage of their large salary paid back.

"Depending on the circumstances, this could be up to half of the total injury bill."

Further reading:

Workplace health: All in it together

Opinion: Is the protection industry more advanced than the Premier League?

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