Vince Grella's time at Blackburn Rovers was hampered by injuries - and even the 42-year-old himself would admit he had a very unsuccessful career in Lancashire during a rotten four-year spell.

The midfielder began his playing career in his home nation of Australia, before moving on to Italy, a country he has many connections to with his parents coming from the European nation.

Spending a decade there and plying his trade with Empoli, Ternana (loan), Palma and Torino - making well over 150 appearances in Serie A - he was a fully experienced top-flight player when he made the move to Ewood Park despite not playing in England before.

He arrived at the then-Premier League club for an initial £3.5m fee in August 2008 after agreeing a deal with Torino, hopeful that he would become a key player under Paul Ince after making 28 appearances in the Italian top-flight during the previous season.

Making 32 top-tier appearances during his first two seasons at Rovers combined, this wasn't the best possible start for the Australian international who played a respectable 47 times for his country.

But the latter two seasons of his career in England were even worse, producing just six further Premier League displays in total during the 2010/11 and 2011/12 campaigns and with this, being released on the expiration of his contract.

With his constant injuries, the Lancashire outfit tried to cut his stay even shorter in the summer of 2011, something they were unable to achieve as they effectively gave up on him.

Credit to the midfielder, he tried once more to revive his career as he travelled across the world and returned to Australia to play with Melbourne City, but was forced to throw the towel in himself after tearing his calf on his debut, ending his career pretty much on the spot in January 2013.

At 33, this was a huge shame considering he would have had at least a couple of years left in the tank in Melbourne, had he finally managed to get over his injuries.

Unfortunately, that wasn't meant to be - and Blackburn fans are left ruing the fact they never saw the best of him.

Thankfully for the Australian, he's still in the football industry and currently works as a 'registered intermediary', effectively working as an agent and keeping a close eye on some of Australia's finest football talent.

Being namechecked by Four Four Two way back in 2016 as a part of the Soccer Base Agency, he is still at the same company according to their website, with their previous clients including Aaron Ramsay and Kyle Walker.

But after missing so many years of football in his playing career, you can safely bet he would rather be out there on the pitch himself.