Ipswich Town defender Axel Tuanzebe faces a spell out of action after requiring surgery on a hand wound suffered washing up. Stuart Watson looks back on other footballers to have suffered freak injuries.
Let's start with an ex-Ipswich player.
Winger Martin - a big money signing from Manchester United during the Roy Keane era - suffered a nasty injury when playing golf back in 2011.
“A stone flicked up from underneath the ball as I played my shot, caught my eye and cracked my contact lens,” he explained. “A few hours later I was totally blind in my right eye.
“One of my mates is a doctor and he was worried because my eye had turned totally black, not just the pupil but the whole eye. It was a very worrying time but fortunately there is no lasting damage."
LEE BEEVERS
This one springs to mind because I was covering Colchester United at the time.
A bad shoulder injury and chronic knee troubles had ruled Lee Beevers out for virtually the entirety of his entire debut season for the U's.
Then, in September 2010, the luckless defender tripped when carrying his daughter's pram up the stairs, trapping his hand badly in its mechanism in the process.
A trip to A&E revealed he had dislocated a metacarpal and he was immediately put in a cast.
KIERON DYER
The Ipswich-born midfielder damaged his left eye when he collided with a pole in training when at Newcastle. The injury ruled him out for two weeks.
RICHARD WRIGHT
The ex-Ipswich keeper suffered not one, but two freak injuries during his spell at Everton.
First, in 2003, he suffered a shoulder injury when falling out of his loft. Then, during a pre-game warm-up in 2006, he hurt his ankle tripping over a large wooden sign that requested keepers use temporary nets close by.
SANTIAGO CANIZARES
At the age of 32, Canizares had just established himself as Spain's No. 1 heading into the 2002 World Cup only for disaster to strike.
The Valencia keeper accidentally smashed a bottle of aftershave in the sink of his hotel room, with a shard of glass dropping to the floor and severing a tendon in his right foot.
STEVE MORROW
The Northern Ireland international was struggling for game time at Arsenal in the early 90s, but he started the League Cup Final against Sheffield Wednesday and duly scored the winner with his first goal for the club.
In the celebrations after the match, skipper Tony Adams attempted to pick up Morrow and parade him on his shoulders, but slipped. Morrow fell awkwardly and broke his arm. He missed the rest of the season, including the FA Cup final.
CHARLIE GEORGE
The long-haired Arsenal legend of the 70s lost a finger on his right hand when doing some gardening in the later years of his career.
"I lifted the mower up to clear some grass from the blades when it moved and chopped off my index finger. I suppose I’m lucky that I didn’t lose my hand,” he's quoted as saying, jokingly adding: "I guess now I won’t be able to take a throw-in, or put two fingers up at people anymore!”
VICTOR ADEBOYEJO
Just last month, the Bolton striker aggravated a rib injury with what manager Ian Evatt described as a 'pretty hefty sneeze'.
"Victor is a powerful boy, and even his sneezes are powerful," said the Trotters boss.
RIO FERDINAND
Ferdinand became the world's most expensive defender when joining Leeds for £18m in November 2000.
The following January, he suffered a knee injury... whilst watching TV.
Boss David O'Leary explained: "He had his foot up on the coffee table. It was in a certain position for a number of hours and strained a tendon behind his knee."
DAVE BEASANT
The veteran goalkeeper managed to rule himself out for eight weeks in 1993 when he dropped a bottle of salad cream on his foot, severing the tendon in his big toe.
DARIUS VASSELL
The Aston Villa striker missed three games in 2002 after a DIY attempt at relieving swelling in his toe. He drilled through the nail and it became infected.
LIAM LAWRENCE
In 2008, the Stoke midfielder fell down the stairs and injured his ankle after tripping over his pet Labrador.
"It was in the middle of the night, the dog lies on the stairs and I didn't see him," he explained. "I'm sure the gaffer won't be best pleased."
PHILLIPE MEXES
Called in sick for AC Milan's game against Celtic in 2013 because he'd hurt his eyes from spending too long in a sunbed.
DAVID BATTY
The former Leeds and Blackburn midfielder managed to re-injure his Achilles tendon when he was run over by his toddler on a tricycle.
DARREN BARNARD
Former Barnsley midfielder was sidelined for five months with a torn knee ligament after he slipped in a puddle of his puppy's urine on the kitchen floor.
SHINJI KAGAWA
Man United's Japanese international missed a game against Newcastle in 2013 in bizarre circumstances.
Boss David Moyes explained: "It was a bad sickness. He thinks he ate too much and he had to get his stomach pumped."
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