Alan Smith's horrific leg break for Man Utd isn't the reason he lost feeling in his toes

Alan Smith suffered a truly horrific leg break playing for Manchester United but it was a different incident which has left him struggling to walk.

Smith came through the ranks at boyhood club Leeds United, playing 228 times and scoring 56 goals.

He made a controversial £7 million switch to United in 2004 after Leeds were relegated to the Championship and ended up playing 93 times, scoring 12 times.

Smith's time at Old Trafford was plagued by injuries, including the leg break and ankle dislocation he sustained after he charged out to block a John Arne Riise rocket free-kick at Anfield in 2006.

Sir Alex Ferguson called the injury the "worst he had ever seen" and United players were left visibly distressed.

Smith had to have 10 pins put in his ankle and was out of action for around seven months. He later played for Newcastle, MK Dons and Notts County but has lost feeling in all three of his toes.

Smith broke his leg blocking a shot from John Arne Riise in 2006. Image: Getty

Last year, the former England international revealed that the numbness actually came following a challenge from former teammate Kieran Richardson in a Newcastle vs Sunderland clash many years back.

"When I played in the derby for Newcastle against Sunderland, that's when I did it again," Smith explained, as per Manchester Evening News.

"I just got a tackle, Kieran Richardson came in, it was a bad tackle, but it wasn't malicious. He just came in and caught me on my standing foot, on my standing leg, but it was my left.

"He literally just went high on my ankle, and my ankle inverted, so the opposite of what it should and it just went inwards. That was worse because I already had all my metal work in there.

"I went to James Calder at the Fortius Clinic in London about it, because he'd done a lot of my surgeries after, and he basically couldn't tell what was new damage and what was old damage, and that's when I lost all the nerve damage in my foot, because I can't feel the last three toes on my left side, I can't feel them."

Smith now lives in Orlando, Florida and coaches kids at the XL Soccer World Academy. He is set to return to the pitch to take part in the The Soccer Tournament (TST) in May and June in a competition where the winners will take home $1 million.

That is despite having difficulty walking on a regularly basis and having struggles in the morning due to the joint line in his left ankle, which still has screws in.

Although he sometimes plays indoors on a Friday, the ex Notts County caretaker boss hasn't played properly for around a decade.

Smith photographed playing in a five-a-side game in 2023. Image: Getty

"I'm looking forward to it, the only thing is that all the lads will enjoy playing, but I know I’m restricted," Smith said.

"I’m restricted with what I can do and I just hope my body doesn't let me down, that's the thing. There's nothing worse than, hamstrings or calves going, or whatever it is when you want to play, that's the worst if you can’t get through it."

He continued: "It's trying to find that balance of doing something that doesn't make my ankle really bad so I'm struggling to walk, but doing enough to get movement in it. So it's doing okay.

"It's just not stressing it too much because it's the inflammation then obviously the next day. I've been doing red light therapy on my ankle quite a bit and that's been helping it because it takes the inflammation down a lot. Just in the mornings when I'm getting going that I struggle with the ankle."