EIn the year after he retired from professional football, the former Bayern star Arjen Robben is working on a comeback for his former club FC Groningen. The 36-year-old Dutchman is training to be part of the team at the start of the new season, the first division club said on Saturday. Details will be announced at a press conference on Sunday.
“The club may currently need all the help they can get through the corona crisis,” said Robben on the club’s website. In recent weeks, he has had many conversations with club members and listened to fans. “Arjen, listen to your heart!” They would have told him. “It started to tingle and now this is my mission. I’m working on a comeback as a footballer. “
At the so-called “Pride of the North” Robben had started his football career in the youth academy. However, he does not yet know whether he will be able to return. “But what I do know is that my commitment and motivation should not fail. It is my dream to play in the FC Groningen jersey again. ”
Groningen said that they were “enthusiastic and flattered” that Robben was returning to professional football “out of love for the club”. The club had finished ninth in the Dutch Eredivisie last season.
Robben had played at Bayern for ten years until last summer and then declared his professional career over. At the age of 18 he started a picture book career in Groningen – with positions at PSV Eindhoven, FC Chelsea, Real Madrid and FC Bayern, with which he won the 2013 Champions League. In the final against Borussia Dortmund, he scored the decisive 2-1.
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