GERMANY: SOCCER / FOOTBALL - Bayern's Sebastian Deisler retires and Hasan Salihamidzic says he will join Juventus

Record ID: 777631

  • Title: GERMANY: SOCCER / FOOTBALL - Bayern's Sebastian Deisler retires and Hasan Salihamidzic says he will join Juventus
  • Date: 17th January 2007
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF DEISLER AND OTHER GERMANY PLAYERS TRAINING
  • Embargoed: 1st February 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA13VGPXA256IZGHDCU4SWJDG44
  • Story Text: Bayern Munich announced on Tuesday (January 16) that midfielder Sebastian Deisler is retiring from football at the age of 27 because of injury, and Hasan Salihamidzic will leave for Juventus at the end of the season.
    Deisler, who missed last year's World Cup after undergoing knee surgery for the fifth time, announced the decision at a news conference.
    "I no longer have any real faith in my knee," the player said. "In the long run it's been an ordeal.
    "I can't play half-heartedly. That's no good to me and no good to the team."
    Blessed with speed, dribbling ability and an eye for a cross, Deisler was once widely seen as being the next great German player but fitness and psychological problems meant he was unable to fulfil his promise.
    After making his Bundesliga debut as an 18-year-old with Borussia Moenchengladbach in 1998, Deisler played for Germany for the first time in 2000 and looked set for great things when he agreed to join Bayern from Hertha Berlin in 2002.
    Injury kept him out of the 2002 World Cup, however, and continuing problems meant he hardly figured for Bayern in his first season.
    He was sidelined for five months in the 2003-04 season while being treated for depression but he returned and looked a much happier man following the birth of his son, Raphael in 2004.
    He was one of the outstanding players in the Germany side that reached the semi-finals of the Confederations Cup in 2005 and Juergen Klinsmann was hoping to play him on the right of midfield at the 2006 World Cup.
    Another knee injury suffered in a training in 2006 dashed his hopes, though, and he also missed most of the first half of the current season.
    He returned to make a handful of appearances as a substitute at the end of 2006, including one quite brilliant display that earned Bayern a 2-1 win away to Hamburg SV.
    The stage appeared set for a return to his best in 2007 before he finally decided enough was enough.
    After showing so much patience with the player, Bayern were clearly disappointed by his decision to retire and manager Uli Hoeness held out hope of yet changing his mind.
    "We really tried everything to convince him of the contrary because we believe that Sebastian is one of the best players ever in Germany as far his talent and his abilities go," Hoeness said at the same news conference on Tuesday.
    Deisler won 36 caps for Germany and scored three goals.
    In the Bundesliga, he played 135 times and scored 18 goals, winning the league and Cup three times apiece with Bayern.
    After training on Tuesday Bosnian midfielder Hasan Salihamidzic confirmed that he will also be leaving Bayern to join Italian giants Juventus on a free transfer at the end of the season.
    "It's a great club (Juventus) and it's a sports challenge to me," he said. "I also had an offer from Bayern and I could have stayed here which is very nice of the club. But I think that in life there are decisions like this one where you should further develop, as a human being, as a family, the experience abroad which is something very special."
    Salihamidzic, who has been at Bayern since 1998, will sign a four-year contract with the Italian Serie B side, who were demoted from the top flight because of a match-fixing scandal.
    Salihamidzic will leave Bayern with an enviable set of medals. During his time at the club he has helped them win the Bundesliga title six times, the German Cup four times and the Champions League once, in 2001.
    Salihamidzic arrived in Germany in 1992, playing for Hamburg SV before making his move south.
    At Bayern, he has played as a right back, winger and centre forward. In total he has made 292 Bundesliga appearances, including 15 this season, and scored 47 goals.
    He was a regular for Bosnia before calling time on his international career in August 2006.
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