JAKARTA - Not long ago, Mesut Ozil announced his retirement from the world of professional football. The former Real Madrid and Arsenal player admitted that his injuries and recent situation were the reason.
Not long ago, former Barcelona player Bojan Krkic announced the same thing. He decided to hang up his boots as a professional footballer at the age of 32 on Thursday, March 23.
Bojan has spent the last two years playing for Vissel Kobe, but has not owned a club since leaving Japanese clubs in January 2023.
Barcelona held a tribute event for him at Camp Nou, which is where he announced his decision to retire after 16 years of his professional career.
"This decision is very difficult to make. I have been away from home for 12 years and professionally I have fulfilled everything," Bojan said at Barca TV, as quoted by Antara, Friday, March 24.
"I want to enjoy the next chapter in my life and with my family. I don't retire because of physical problems," he continued.
⚡️ 𝙇𝙄𝙑𝙀 𝙉𝙊𝙒 ⚡️😢 Bojan Krkic announces his retirement."I'm here today to communicate that I'm putting an end to my career."𝗪𝗔𝗧𝗖𝗛 𝗡𝗢𝗪 𝗢𝗡 𝗕𝗔𝗥𝗖̧𝗔 𝗧𝗩+🖥 https://t.co/y4T6zDr7Hl pic.twitter.com/sXu0Z0cweW
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) March 23, 2023
Bojan said he wanted to do other activities and did not continue playing football. He emphasized that this decision was not due to injury factors like Ozil.
"I suffered three injuries, but I have recovered, my condition is 100 percent. This is a matter of feelings, reality. I am more eager to do other activities than continue to play football. I am grateful for all the experiences I have experienced," said the player who is predicted to be Lionel Messi's replacement.
"I've played for Barcelona, played with great players, I won a lot of trophies and played in other leagues. Now I'm ready to try new things."
Bojan is a Barcelona academy graduate "La Masia" and scored 900 goals at the junior level. He then broke into Barcelona's first team and won many trophies, he scored 41 goals in 163 appearances in four seasons at Barca's first team.
However, his career began to fade due to injury and mental health. He revealed that he often experienced anxiety attacks because he got a lot of spotlights after making his senior Barcelona debut.
He was then loaned by Barcelona to AC Milan and Ajax before joining Stoke City permanently in 2014. He continued to move clubs before joining Japanese club Vissel Kobe in 2021, where he played with former Barcelona team-mate Andres Iniesta.
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