Phil Jones opens up on 'mental trauma' he suffered at Man Utd in incredibly honest interview

Former Manchester United defender Phil Jones has bravely opened up on suffering with 'mental trauma' brought on by abuse from trolls during his playing career.

Jones, 32, announced his retirement from professional football in August after years of injury problems, with the former England international confirming his intention to move into coaching after hanging up his boots.

The former Blackburn Rovers defender spent 12 years with United after joining in a £16.5m move from the Lancashire club in 2011.

He was once famously tipped to be the club's greatest ever player by Sir Alex Ferguson, but over the course of his United career Jones could manage only 229 appearances – less than 20 per season on average – due to persistent injury problems.

Jones first tore his meniscus as an 18-year-old at Blackburn and would struggle with knee issues throughout his career after undergoing surgery, making him the figure of ridicule at times – in the stands, on the street and online.

He has now opened up on the "mental trauma" he suffered throughout his career, revealing that he was only able to overcome the torment with help from a psychologist and a therapist.

Speaking on The High Performance Podcast [via The Sun], Jones said: "I'd been through that much trauma mentally."

When asked if the abuse he suffered affected him, Jones added: "Anybody who tells you that it doesn't is lying. And as footballers you have to put this mask on.

"You get paid a lot of money so you are not allowed to have feelings or emotions. The physical injuries made me mentally weak at times.

"Obviously people will ask, 'he is always injured?' as though they think that I wake up one day and think, 'oh, yeah, I fancy being injured today'.

"But my coping mechanism was to be silent, put my guard up, my shield up around with my really close family. I wouldn't even really communicate with my friends that well."

Opening up on the abuse he was subjected to in everyday life, Jones added: "You'd go past people in the street and they'd say something and it would really aggravate you and get to you.

Phil Jones is now looking forward to a career in coaching (Image: Getty)

"You just hear people whispering, 'Oh there he is, f***ing injury-prone'. People say, 'you shouldn't take that money then'.

"If they only knew what I was doing behind the scenes to get right.

"Flip that on its head and say, 'I'll tell you what then, what I'll do is I'll take the money away from you and see if you go back into work'. Everybody's got to earn money.

"I found it really hard to go to restaurants for years. You put your head down when you're walking through crowds and stuff. I didn't want people to spot me."

Jones even tried to get his wife, Kaya, to remove a display of England caps and a Premier League winners trophy from his house because he felt "worthless".

But he said he eventually decided to "deal with it" for the sake of his two daughters, finally accepting that his playing days were over.

"It was a relief off my shoulders that I didn't have to put myself through this pain," he said.

Jones was finally released by United in the summer of 2023. Since then, he has spent time working with youngsters at the club and is now hoping to move into a full-time career in coaching or management.

"I'm looking forward to the future and I'm positive about it," he added.