The Englishman who played for Arsenal’s Invincibles but retired at 27

Ryan Garry almost became a member of the greatest Arsenal squad in history, but fate would ensure his first Premier League game for the club would also prove to be his last. We got his story…

Garry joined the Arsenal academy in 1999, won the FA Youth Cup in 2001, made his senior debut in the League Cup in 2002, then on May 7, 2003 got his first start in the Premier League. His career seemed to be heading in only one direction.

Arsenal beat Southampton 6-1 that day in what was the first game of the Invincibles’ 49-game unbeaten run. But while it was the start of something special for the club as a whole, it was the start of four years of injury hell for Garry. He would never play for the club again.

Not, of course, that he realised it at the time.

“After making my debut (in the League Cup) I was involved in most first-team training sessions, and I remember just after Christmas Arsene telling me I was going to be with the first team every training session.

“I knew I would play (vs Southampton) the day before as Ashley (Cole) said to me he wasn’t going to play and that I would.

“I remember going to the hotel before the game; the pre-match meeting was based around a player I would be marking, a French winger named Fabrice Fernandes. He was their best player and I was going to have to stop him.

“I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, it’s a Premier League debut, an evening game under the floodlights. It went very quickly and it was an amazing game as the scoreline shifted quite quickly in the middle.

“Jermaine (Pennant) got a hat-trick which was special as we’d played together for the youth team and England.”

After living out his dream at Highbury, Garry’s world soon came crashing down.

“Leading up to that game, possibly six