FORMER STOKE DEFENDER CALLS TIME ON HIS PRO CAREER

GABRIEL Zakuani has announced he is hanging up his boots after a long career which pretty much started with helping Stoke City reach the Premier League. Zakuani was only 20 when he joined Tony Pulis’s side for the first time on loan from Fulham in early 2007, returning early the next season for what transpired to be a campaign which ended the club’s long exile from the top flight.

He had actually already been playing for four years before then and has carried on to put together an impressive EFL CV, also winning promotion from League Two and League One.

He has played for clubs including Peterborough United, Northampton, Gillingham and Leyton Orient and was on the books of Dagenham and Redbridge last term.

Now he is planning to concentrate on coaching and media work.

“I’ve been getting lots of calls and lots of questions, but I’ve been waiting for the right time,” he said in a video filmed for social media. “So just a quick announcement that I am retiring from full-time professional football.

“I feel like now is the right time.

“I’m 34 years old and I started really early playing first team football at 16 years old.

“I feel like I’ve achieved everything I set out to achieve for my ability. “I improved greatly during my career and won a lot of things, everything possible there is to win in the Football League.

“After a successful career and successful international career, I feel like I’ve given everything possible for me to give to football.

“I feel like I’ve left everything on the pitch. “The Covid has brought so many opportunities for me so I feel like I’m moving into the corporate world, coaching, media and I want to fulfil my potential in those particular things.

“I want to thank everyone who has helped me along the journey, anyone who supported me, anyone who booed me, anyone who bought a shirt, sent a message, everyone. Thank you for everything.”

PETER SMITH