Former England and West Ham striker Dean Ashton is making a claim for compensation following a tackle by former Chelsea player Shaun Wright-Philips that ended his career. The tackle happened when Wright-Philips, now of Manchester City, and Ashton collided at an England training session.

Due to the terms of Ashton’s own personal insurance he cannot claim compensation for the premature end to his career, so he is claiming compensation against either Chelsea, who were Wright-Philips’ employers at the time, or the English FA.

West Ham United are to launch a similar compensation claim as they paid Ashton’s wages for a year after his injury, a sum believed to be around £3 million.

The accident at work happened for Ashton in August 2006 during an England get together, and the 26 year old striker, one of the best in the Premier League, was forced to finally admit defeat in his attempts to play again just before Christmas last year.

When speaking about his own insurance will not cover his injury, Ashton told Radio 5 Live:

There are a lot of things in your insurance where they don’t have to pay you out. If you are injured when you renew it, they can obviously exclude your ankle. My insurance is void.

Ashton’s compensation claim is now with personal injury lawyers as they decide whether to proceed with a claim for compensation against Chelsea, or the English FA.

Ashton was offered a new contract at West Ham, a five year contract, while he was still injured from his England training session. Ashton describes his surprise at West Ham’s decision:

In hindsight I’m sure they’re ripping their hair out. At the time I felt I was not going to have any more problems and that I’d got back to somewhere near my best and obviously felt that as well.

At the time West Ham didn’t want to lose a striker. At the time five years seemed a lot.