Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech has revealed he offered Ryan Mason his support after the Hull City midfielder fractured his skull last month.
Mason sustained the injury during his side's 2-0 defeat to Chelsea on Jan. 22 after clashing heads with Gary Cahill and spent eight days in hospital before eventually being released.
Cech went through a similar experience when he suffered a depressed fracture to his skull in 2006 while playing for Chelsea against Reading and has opted to wear a protective cap while playing ever since.
"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," Cech told Arsenal's official website.
"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 hopes his own experience of dealing with the injury will help Mason in his recovery.
"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."
