It's over eight months since Ryan Mason suffered a fractured skull in a collision with Gary Cahill during a Premier League game. The Hull defender has not played since, though he is aiming for a return to action in the future.
Speaking in an interview with Talksport's Jim White on Wednesday, Mason revealed the part which Petr Cech has played in his recovery. The Arsenal keeper suffered a similar injury during a 2006 clash with Stephen Hunt while playing for Chelsea.
Shortly after the incident, Cech contacted Maston's family to alleviate any worries which they held.
I can't speak highly enough of him as a person, as a man. Straight away, he contacted my family, my fiance and just sort of reassured us that what we were going through was sort of normal and to be expected: not being able to talk, struggling with the light and everything like that.
As soon as I got a bit more strength I was keen to see him because he said 'as soon as you're ready, I'd like to come round and speak to you'.
Two months after the unfortunate collision, Mason and Cech met up. Mason said that he was initially worred because up to that point following his injury, he had not talked to anyone for longer than 10 minutes.
He walked through the door and sat on my sofa and just said: 'sit back, don't say anything, just listen'.
He spoke for about an hour and a half. I didn't say anything, he just spoke. It was brilliant.
It just reassured us that everything we were going through was part of the process of recovery and we've been in touch ever since.
He's been fantastic. He's kind of set the standard of what it is to be a proper man and a gentleman.
I'm hoping no one ever does go through that sort of injury again in sports, but if they do go through something similar, I'll be there like Petr was for me.
You can listen to Ryan Mason speaking about Petr Cech below.
MUST WATCH! @RyanMason on how @PetrCech helped him after fracturing his skull at Chelsea
Full interview on @JimWhite tomorrow from 10am! pic.twitter.com/Kg1Dw3yCed— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) October 3, 2017
