Former City midfielder Abe set to retire from game at 40
FORMER Leicester City striker Shinji Okazaki has sent a retirement message to another former Fox, Yuki Abe, writes Matt Abbott.
It was announced on Sunday that Abe, left in City colours, would be ending his playing career next month at the end of the J League season.
“Around the new year, I was thinking this season would turn out to be my final season, my ultimate challenge,” he told a news conference via the Japan Times.
Abe has been playing back in his native Japan since returning to
Urawa Red Diamonds after his City contract was cancelled by mutual consent in January 2012.
Okazaki, a national team teammate of Abe between 2008 and 2012, thanked the 40-year-old while paying tribute to the midfielder after the news.
The tweet, translated from Japanese, says “Thank you for your hard work” followed by the fox face emoji.
Abe joined Leicester in the summer of 2010 from Urawa Reds and made just under 60 appearances across two seasons spanning the tenures of Paulo Sousa, Sven Goran-Eriksson and Nigel Pearson.
He made 40 appearances in all competitions during his first campaign in the East Midlands, notably assisting a Paul Gallagher winner against Preston North End and scoring his first goal on the final day of the season in a win over Ipswich Town.
The second season saw Abe’s game time reduced after Eriksson’s departure and the arrival of Pearson.
He left the club during the January transfer window days after Danny Drinkwater’s signing from Manchester United.
At the time, the midfielder said: “Leicester City are a great club, and my time in England has been a great experience. But the biggest challenge has been the time away from my family, and they must be my priority.”
After returning home, Abe won a second AFC Champions League title in 2017 as well as a J League Cup, Suruga Bank Championship and Emperor’s Cup between 2016 and 2018.