Wednesday 8 February 2017 14:36, UK
Petr Cech has offered his support to Ryan Mason and says he hopes the Hull midfielder can take encouragement from his own recovery from a serious head injury.
Mason is recovering after suffering a skull fracture against Chelsea on January 22 after he was involved in a horrific clash of heads with Gary Cahill. He was taken to St Mary's Hospital in London, where he underwent surgery on the injury.
Arsenal goalkeeper Cech, who suffered a depressed fracture while playing for Chelsea more than 10 years ago and has worn protective headgear ever since, has wished Mason well in his recovery.
"I offered him my support because I have experience in what he's going through, and I'm happy to share my experience if it helps him," he told Arsenal Player. "The possibility to be able to offer him my experience, it was the first thing I had in my mind to do.
"I'm obviously glad that he's back home and that he's started his recovery process. Hopefully he will get well very soon."
Cech, whose Arsenal side host Hull on Saturday, live on Sky Sports 1HD, understands that it is a "challenging situation" for Mason's friends and family, as well as the former Tottenham midfielder, but insists it is vital to have people around for support.
"When you're in this situation, you need people around you to help," he said. "Then you have someone who has the experience and can tell you, 'Don't worry about this, it's completely normal, and don't worry about that because I went through it too'.
"It can obviously help because you have a lot of doubts, a lot of questions and nobody seems to have the answer. You can have someone who went through that and they can tell you not to worry about it, it will just take time and that you can carry on doing what you're doing.
"You need your closest around you to help you when you don't feel right. It's a situation which not only involves the person who got injured, but also the people who are supporting him, the people around him like his family. Even for them it's a challenging situation."
