Former Chelsea midfielder Charly Musonda has announced his retirement from professional football.
The 28-year-old winger was one of Chelsea’s most promising talents. However, recurring injury issues have hampered Musonda’s professional growth leading to a rather premature retirement from the game.
Musanda announced his retirement plans in an interview with Rising Ballers.“It took some time,” Musonda said. “I have been thinking about it for the last couple of years. Purely because of my own experiences and who I am as a person.
“I want to be doing things with purpose. I want to inspire and motivate people. I want to create opportunities. I am starting something new that will hopefully help players.
“Today, I have made a decision. It is a decision I have been wrestling with for a long time, but I am going to retire from professional football. It is not an easy decision, but I am building up towards the next stage now.
“I will still be involved in football. In roles to help players express themselves and giving them an opportunity to showcase how good they are.”
Read: Chelsea and Newcastle compete to sign Brighton’s Joao Pedro
Musonda joined Chelsea from Anderlecht in 2012. He was a part of Chelsea’s famed youth academy in early 2010s alongside Fikayo Tomori, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Dominic Solanke, Andreas Christensen, Trevoh Chalobah, Ola Aina, Mason Mount, and Tammy Abraham.
Recurring knee and muscle injuries, including a long-term knee injury suffered while playing for Vitesse Arnhem in August 2019 that kept him out of action for almost three years, halted his career.
Musonda has had a nomadic career which featured stints at Real Betis, Celtic, Vitesse, and Levante before ending his career in Cyprus.
Musonda ends his career having made just 82 first-team appearances across his career. His last appearance came in the Cypriot second division while playing for Doxa Katokopias in January 2024.
In an interview with The Athletic in 2023, talking about his struggles with injury, he said, “It was draining, it sucked the life out of me.
“It’s something I look back on and I’m proud of myself for it. I was alone for a long time. It was very lonely, very tough. Had I been fully fit and had a bigger opportunity, then obviously things could have gone differently.
“But at the end of the day, that’s life, that’s the way things go, and you have to have faith in the future.”
DC is a sport reporting platform crafted to dish out reliable updates on sporting activities worldwide.
