Kieron Dyer has admitted that he is “embarrassed” to have been called a West Ham player in a recent interview.

Expectations were fairly high for Kieron Dyer when he signed for West Ham back in 2007. He should have been in his prime and playing his best football for the Hammers but, unfortunately, fate was not kind to the midfielder.

Just ten days after making his debut for the East London club, he suffered from a broken leg and it was just the beginning of an extremely tough period for him. He went on to have a liver transplant as well as other injury issues which led to him only playing 35 games in three-and-a-half years. Understandably, Kieron does not look back on this time fondly.

“I still get embarrassed being called a West Ham player,” he confessed when speaking to talkSPORT. “It pains me because I went there at the peak of my career. I was one of the top-paid players and I could just never stay fit, I feel embarrassed for the fans and for myself.”

“To be on the wages that I was on, it pains me because they should have had the best of me.”

Dyer was keen to make it clear that he had nothing but admiration for the fanbase, he just wishes he could have given them more. “They had probably seen the worst of me, I like the fans as well, they were always respectful to me, I just couldn’t get on the pitch for them.”

His departure from West Ham virtually marked the end of his career, only playing a handful of times for Middlesborough and QPR before retiring in 2013. 

It’s a real shame that we never got to see what he truly was capable of in Claret and Blue, as there’s no doubt from his time at Newcastle that he was a brilliant player. The reality of football is that one injury changes the trajectory of the rest of your career and Kieron Dyer is just another example of how cruel the sport can be.