Les Ferdinand is among the current and former players who are devastated at the news that Hull City midfielder Ryan Mason will have to hang up his boots.
Mason suffered a serious head injury in a clash with Gary Cahill last January, when Hull met Chelsea. He required a hospital stay and emergency work on his skull.
But despite all the recovery and procedures, doctors have said that returning to football could be fatal to Mason, which is why he has retired.
"It's a real disappointment for him. He was a talented boy," Ferdinand told Omnisport.
"When we were at Spurs, we thought he was the one that was really going to scoot on and be everything we thought he had the ability to be.
"It just goes to show, you find yourself fortunate in this game because sometimes you can have a career... I retired when I was nearly 40 and then there are some people that have injuries in their early 20s and are never able to play again.
"I'm really sad for him, it's disappointing news, disappointing for me to find out that he had to retire. It was a horrible clash but I thought he would come back from it. That's sad news because you hate to hear of someone retiring early from football."
Source: tribalfootball.com