The former player of Real Madrid and Liverpool, Álvaro Arbeloa, announced on Saturday his retirement from professional football, after a last nightmare season with West Ham United, in an interview with the newspaper Marca.
"The time has come to say goodbye. I have decided to hang up my boots and leave football. Many people have encouraged me to continue, saying that I have the physical capacity to keep playing. But it has been more of a mental issue. For me, football has been about fighting day by day, competing, and the option to keep playing in China or the United States has not appealed to me when I have considered it," explained The Spartan.
The 34-year-old Spanish defender barely played 3 matches in the last season at West Ham due to injury, which contributed to his retirement due to lack of motivation. "Professionally, it has not been an easy year and that also affects me personally, of course," he said.
With this, Álvaro Arbeloa finishes a career in which he was part of the golden age of Spanish football, standing out in the teams of his national team that won the titles in the Euro 2008, the World Cup 2010, and the Euro 2012.
