On Thursday, David Beckham confirmed he will retire at the end of the season. The former England skipper, has had a fulfilling 20-year career in football, winning major honours with Manchester United, Real Madrid, LA Galaxy and Paris Saint-Germain.
There’s been a flurry of big names leaving the game. From Sir Alex Ferguson to Stiliyan Petrov to Jamie Carragher, doesn’t it almost feel like football has lost its main men?
Hell no. Let us present to you 10 other footballers that should announce their retirement too!
1. Ryan Giggs
What a fine footballer Ryan Giggs still is. That unique running style and that lethal left foot still leaves defences confused. But like Sid Lowe tweeted, “Ryan Giggs is currently Michael J. Fox, looking at that photo of his family, with people disappearing… Fergie, Scholes, Becks..”.
2. Javier Zanetti
He has played 847 games in 18 years. It’s just incredible. The Inter Milan captain’s campaign was ended abruptly, after he ruptured his achilles tendon. You would think the 39-year-old should have announced his retirement, but no. As he was stretched off the pitch, he said: “I felt a pulling, an extremely serious pain. But I will overcome this.”
3. Abou Diaby
Give it up already, Abou. The French midfielder has hardly played for the Gunners, ever since a malicious tackle. Last season, he featured only five times, thanks to a string of injuries, including ankle and calf problems. In the current campaign, he played 16 games, before he tore his anterior cruciate ligament that will keep him out for nine months.
4. Alessandro Del Piero The former Juventus man is 38. Allow that sink in. A lot of football followers do not know that the Italian forward is approaching his 40s, because of his youthful looks. He has played for 19 years and holds the club records for goals (2900 and appearances (705). He is also third in the ranking of Italian all-time top scorers.
5. Andrey Arshavin
Once upon a time, Arshavin was a terrific forward. However, the Russian has admitted that he might quit the game after his current Arsenal contract runs down. The 32-year-old has gotten so disillusioned with football, after Arsene Wenger has hardly named him on the substitue bench.
6. Brad Friedel The 41-year-old goalkeeper began this season as Andre Villas-Boas first choice at Tottenham. But before you could say Methuselah, he had been relegated to the bench by the younger Hugo Lloris, who arrived from Lyon in the summer. This Premier League veteran, really should hang up the boots.
7. Carles Puyol One of the highlights of the numerous El-Clasico games, was Angel Di Maria leaving Puyol in a heap, after turning him inside out. The Spanish defender, has been a warrior for Barcelona all these days, but I think one of Tito Vilanova’s priorities, should be revamping his defence line, during the summer transfer.
8. Francesco Totti Totti is Roma’s poster boy, but don’t get it twisted. He will be 37 this year. He has been with the capital club since 1993 and only one player has scored more Serie A goals than the trequartista. It’s been a fine career, Totti. It’s time to bring the curtains down.
9. Paulo Ferreira For quite a long time, even Chelsea fans could not confirm if the Portuguese right-back, was still a player at the club. He will definitely be leaving Stamford Bridge this summer and it was a nice touch from his team-mates, after they won the Europa League, to celebrate him.
10.Juan Roman Riquelme In his prime, the Argentine maestro was such a supreme passer of the ball. Riquelme is now hidden from the unforgiving glare of Europe, but that hasn’t stopped time from ticking. He will be 35 this June and should be thinking of retiring.
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