|
|
Andersson nears end of line on Fener gravy-train
Sweden star Kennet Andersson has revealed he will retire from the game and
return home if current club Fenerbahce do not offer him a new contract.
The 34-year-old striker, whose deal with the Turkish side expires in the summer, told Expressen: "I have not
heard from the club and if I don't get a new contract I will move back to Sweden and retire. "Fenerbahce will
be my last club. When I stop playing for them, my career is over." Andersson admitted that family reasons
had played a major part in his decision and confirmed he would not be seeking a club in his homeland. "I do
not have the motivation to start all over again," he said. "I am entering a new phase of my life. I have
other values and they are not to do with football. I am not worried as I have started preparing for a life outside
the game." Andersson's contract at Fenerbahce is worth £3 million a year, making him the highest-paid
Swedish footballer alongside Arsenal midfielder Fredrik Ljungberg. But after the Istanbul club's early elimination
from the Champions' League, it is unlikely they will extend those terms. The rangy forward became a household name
in his homeland after his five goals helped Sweden to third place at USA 94. But the former IFK Gothenberg star
has spent most of his career as a footballing nomad, with spells at Belgian side Mechelen, French club Caen and,
most successfully, Serie A outft Bari, where he scored 12 times in the league during the 1997-98 season. Nicknamed
'Il Torre' (the Tower) by the Italian media, Andersson also played for Bologna, but a brief and unsuccessful stay
at Lazio in 1999 concluded with a move back to the Emilia-Romagna club, before his money-spinning transfer to Fenerbahce.
|
