No one wanted him because of his terrible injury record?
Sorry if this has been posted before...
From Australian Four Four Two:
HARRY 'HAS AUTOIMMUNE HEPATITIS' CLAIM
"HARRY Kewell's club and management won't deny the Socceroo may have autoimmune hepatitis, but they insist nothing is affecting his football.
The Turkish press revealed details of the condition after the Aussie was targeted for a drug test last week following Galatasaray's UEFA Cup clash with Olympiakos.
However it is understood to be a long-standing condition, dating back to before he joined Leeds United.
Football Federation Australia are believed to have been told of the condition prior to the 2006 World Cup when special arrangements were made for Kewell's participation in the qualifier matches.
One former Australia national team medic admitted to au.fourfourtwo.com at the time: "Harry has big problems which prevent him flying for a long time then playing immediately and flying back again."
Autoimmune hepatitis is not infectious and is a result of the body's own immune system turning on the liver and attacking it. The cause is unknown.
Symptoms include fatigue and joint pain. In severe cases, there may be jaundice and when cirrhosis develops, there can be marked swelling of the abdomen, intestinal bleeding or mental confusion.
Patients who develop AIH will often have other auto-immune diseases e.g. ulcerative colitis, diabetes mellitus, vitiligo (a patchy loss of pigment in the skin) and Sjogren’s disease (a condition causing dry eyes and mouth).
It is generally treated with the steroid, prednisone.
Today Galatasaray released a statement claiming reports of the effects of the condition had been exaggerated and stressed his football had not been affected.
“There is no difference on the health condition of Kewell since he started his professional footballer career at Leeds United," said the statement.
"Our club has got the all the detailed info about his previous operations and his health problems with the check-ups. Mr. Kewell’s physical condition is no different now to when he was playing previously.
"All the news about the player’s absences are based on the muscle and skeleton problems that can be seen on every player."
It added: "In the course of normal training and playing he has had 2 minor injuries since he has joined Galatasaray. Both are unrelated to any previous injury or to any other physical condition.
"The exaggerated news about the autoimmune hepatitis and future hypothesis shows clearly the unethical position of our media.
"Mr Kewell has never had and does not have any health problems that have prevented him performing at his best at club level and for the Australian national team in a professional football career spanning 14 years, apart from injuries that are common to football players.
"The important point for Galatasaray Sports Club is to define whether the player is in a condition level that can be considered as eligible to play.
"It has been realized a very detailed check-up on Harry before the start of the season. The specialists made their reports and his injuries have been well-documented and are not exceptional for a footballer [with] his career.
"Because of his last year’s lack of match fitness, he is not only training with the team but also, additionally, with his own physiotherapist.
"We have to clarify that he is not missing the regular training sessions, on the other hand, he has additional individual support with his personal trainer.
"He has no problem of not [being] capable of playing two matches in a week. He is naturally not planned differently from other players.”
His personal manager Bernie Mandic stressed to au.fourfourtwo.com that Harry did not have a contagious disease.
He said: "Bottom line, Harry does not have and has never had any infectious disease."
FFA this afternoon declined to comment on the reports.""
I don't know much about this sort of thing but it would explain why he struggled with fitness, and seemed to take longer to come back from injury because he has to take Immunosuppressant drugs..?
Also might explain why he was susceptible to the arthritis he got at the World Cup?
Doesn't excuse his overall performance with us, but it could explain a few things?
As for his statement about Galatasaray fans being far better than Liverpool fans, you can see why he said this. It was pretty bad the way he was treated at times. It must be nice for him to have such a great connection with the Galatasaray fans.
I don't hold any grudge against him at all, he was very unlucky.
I had only ever been annoyed with him once when he went to play in some friendly against Singapore with an Australian B team, one week before, I think, the Manchester United game and he came back injured. (it can be argued that he wasn't being selected at the time and though doing extra training sessions with the reserves he needed match fitness - but it didn't show much dedication to earning a new contract that he was apparently desperate to get.)
