Wojciech Szczesny retires, or rather not. Marc-André ter Stegen’s serious injury deprives Barcelona of their starting goalkeeper until the end of the season and an opportunity was created for the Pole when it was really all over. The forced farewell to Juventus, the decision to hang up his gloves due to lack of stimulation: “Even if my body still feels ready for the challenges, my heart is no longer there” declared the Pole last August 27th . Stimuli that returned from the call from Catalonia and so at 34 years old Szczesny is putting the gloves back on. Who before him changed his mind?
Lehmann for the round figure
Szczesny is not the only goalkeeper to have second thoughts. In the past we mention Jens Lehmann, who left Stuttgart in 2010. Arsene Wenger convinced him and brought him back to Arsenal in March 2011 with i gunners who are facing a goalkeeping emergency: he plays only once, against Blackpool in the Premier League. And that’s enough to make him cross the finish line of 200 overall games with the Londoners
Robben the last top
The former Juventus player is not the first case of a player retracing his steps. Among the most recent cases is that of Arjen Robben, who called it quits in July 2019 after 10 years at Bayern where he won everything, but who a year later decided to wear the shirt of Groningen, the club where he grew up as a footballer: 7 appearance fees, of which 3 as a starter and the final withdrawal, to start training the youth team of the green and whites. Another Dutchman who has retraced his steps is Marc Overmars who even retired twice: the first in 2004 after four years in Barcelona, he returned 4 years later to Go Ahead Eagles where he played for a year, a 12-month stoppage and his last dance at Epe.
Scholes persuaded by Ferguson
Paul Scholes is one of the greats to have changed his mind, always wearing the Manchester United shirt. The midfielder retired in 2011, but Sir Alex Ferguson convinced him to change his mind and in January 2012 he was back on the pitch and contributed to the successes of the red devils until June 2013, coinciding with Ferguson’s retirement as well.
Veron and his love for Estudiantes
In South America we find two great midfielders: Juan Sebastian Veron and Juan Roman Riquelme. There brujita he said enough in 2012 after ending his career at Estudiantes. He thought about it a year later, retiring a second time in 2014 and finally returning to play in January 2017 until May again at Estudiantes, definitively hanging up his boots at 42 years old. Riquelme also retired in the summer of 2012 but in February 2013 he had second thoughts and returned to Boca Juniors, where he had finished, and in 2014 he moved to Argentinos where he played the last six months before his final retirement. Still in America, but going up to the USA, we mention Landon Donovan who changes his mind 3 times: the first in September 2016, where he returns to LA Galaxy after retiring 18 months earlier, the second in January 2018 where he accepts the Mexicans’ offer of Leon and the third in January 2019 where he decided to put his boots back on and return to play in his homeland, indoor championship at the San Diego Sockers where he stayed for six months.
Passage to India
In 2014, India tries to break into the world of football, the Super League is born and foreigners of a certain caliber are hired: to help the League take off, some players who had hung up their boots for some time were convinced: this is the case by Alessandro Nesta and Marco Materazzi, but also by Robert Pires and Freddie Ljungberg.