A CAR CRASH COULD HAVE KILLED ME
Crawley hero Tsaroulla is making the most of his second chance after a horrific accident put him out for a year while at Spurs
CRAWLEY FA Cup hero Nick Tsaroulla could have died in the car crash that almost ended his career.
But the 21-year-old has seized his second chance – with a little help from a performance coach famous for working with Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.
The smash that ended up seeing Tsaroulla out of the game for two years happened on July 15, 2017 when the leftback was still at Tottenham.
He spent a year in rehab only for Spurs to release him, and faced a long road back before finally being given a chance by Brentford, then joining Crawley on a one-year deal last October.
So you can understand why Londonborn Tsaroulla was in tears after scoring his first senior goal in the League Two side’s 3-0 thrashing of Leeds on Sunday.
He said: “I had a bad accident. It was head on with another car. It wasn’t pretty. The other car was three times the size, and my car was a mess.
“The doctor said if I didn’t have my seatbelt on I would have died. I was saved by the seatbelt.
“But unfortunately it caused an injury to the stomach. And it just needed time. But unfortunately with football clubs, like Spurs, time goes against me.”
Tsaroulla’s injury mystified doctors, and when he first attempted a comeback he developed blisters on his feet which became infected.
He was rushed to hospital Cellulitis, a bacterial skin infection, and it was only ly after seeing a Harley Street t specialist that he was eventually able to resume e his career.
Tsaroulla said: “It was abdominal. No one could figure it out. For a year I was completely out of football. Then the blister got infected and there was a big red line up my leg, so I had to rush to hospital. If I had left it, it would have gone black.”
Tsaroulla holds no grudge against Tottenham, who just spurred him on by releasing him in 2018.
And he battled back with the help of some bedtime reading courtesy of NBA icon Michael Jordan’s (above) personal trainer. Tsaroulla said: “I read a great book, Relentless, by Tim Grover. It completely changed my mindset. As it says in the book, there always has to be more. Spurs did everything they could. But they didn’t want to keep me. That gives me a lot of drive, to prove them wrong.
“Maybe everything happens for a reason. I would have loved to have stayed at Spurs, but what happened – those lessons – mean I was able to do that against Leeds.
“I just want to enjoy my time here now.” with