Former Liverpool defender Andre Wisdom has not played professionally in more than two years, and he has revealed he has ‘not been the same’ since he was stabbed in 2020. Wisdom, who is now 29, was a product of Liverpool’s academy and went on to play 22 games for the club between 2012 and 2013, before leaving on four different loan spells and settling at Derby. His last senior minutes came in April 2021 for the Rams.
Wisdom’s career and life were thrown into a different trajectory after he was attacked and stabbed in the head and rear while leaving a party. In a chat with the Beautiful Game Podcast, Wisdom revealed that he did not initially realise he had been stabbed and after he had been treated his “body just wasn’t the same.” He explained, “I was at a place where I shouldn’t have been – at a party. But I think that time of year, as it was lockdown, I was a bit eager to be out outside a bit. It was a house party and when I was leaving there were like five guys, with balaclavas, knives and they said ‘give me your watch.’ I said ‘no’ so what else happens, we start fighting and that was it. I drove home after the incident and when I got home, I realised I’ve been stabbed multiple times.”
Wisdom faced many challenges during his recovery, but his mentality towards it all has been positive. He said, “My left [buttock] is worst than my right side, severe nerve damage on my left side. It was hard to take. With that comes a lot of other niggles, everything is connected. I got stabbed in the head, I got headaches. A little cut here [points to his chest], I couldn’t breathe when I came out of hospital because I had fluid on my lungs. I think I rushed coming back to football because that’s all I knew. Once I could walk, which was two-three weeks, I went straight back to football. As men, we get ahead of ourselves.”
Nowadays, Wisdom invests in properties and even has a relationship with Liverpool to help house their young players. He said, “I’ve always thought about what to do with my money and yeah, I got into property. I’ve got some houses I rent to Liverpool [the club] and they put some of the young players in there when they come from different cities. And their families live in some of my houses.”