Former Chelsea winger Charly Musonda announces retirement after recurring injury issues
Former Chelsea midfielder Charly Musonda has announced his retirement from professional football.
The 28-year-old winger was once heralded as one of Chelsea's most promising talents and a player who was set to become a mainstay in the Belgium national team.
However, recurring injury issues hampered Musonda's career, leading to him announcing his premature retirement from the game in an interview with Rising Ballers.
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'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.'
Musonda joined Chelsea from Anderlecht in 2012 and was part of the famed Chelsea youth academy sides of the early 2010s.
He made his name alongside figures like Fikayo Tomori, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Dominic Solanke, Andreas Christensen, Trevor 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 went on to play for Real Betis, Celtic, Vitesse, and Levante before ending his career in Cyprus.
The winger also featured for Belgium's national youth sides but never earned a senior cap.
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.
When asked about his struggles with injury, Musonda told The Athletic in 2023: '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.'
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