The former winger of Bayern Munich is again a professional player who was brought back to football from a playing field with Michael Jordan footage
Groningen used clips from ‘The Last Dance’ to inspire Arjen Robben to return to his youth club.
It was confirmed on Saturday that Robben had agreed to retire and sign for the Eredivisie Club, where the former Chelsea, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich winger got through the ranks in 2000.
Robben retired last year after another season in which he won the Bundesliga. Shortly afterwards, Groningen failed to sign him.
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At a press conference on Sunday, technical director Mark-Jan Fledderus said: “We only went to Munich a few days after his retirement in May last year to talk to him about playing for us. But that didn’t happen.” We kept in touch and then secretly made an appointment with his wife to speak to him again last month.
“On May 21, I went to Munich on invitation [Robben’s wife] Bernadien. We surprised Arjen there. It was a great moment.
“We ordered sushi at their favorite restaurant and put together a collection of footage from the documentary ‘The Last Dance’ and footage from Robben. We then said that the best way to help our club was to play soccer with us. “
We start with the photo shoot in the field! @ArjenRobben @Fleddie #Arjenvolgjehart #laatonsweereensjuju pic.twitter.com/NtIGAaCHHA
– FC Groningen (@fcgroningen) June 28, 2020
While Robben is unlikely to reach heights similar to those in the series about Michael Jordan and his last season with the Chicago Bulls 1997-98, he looks forward to the challenge of returning to the Eredivisie campaign.
“I’m here to help the club,” said Robben. “You do this by showing the right attitude. I have nothing to lose and I go into the challenge with a positive attitude and try to make the best of it.
“I have no goals, it could be over in a month or it could take two years.”
To support his wife in deciding to retire, he added: “It made the decision a lot easier knowing that I had the support of my family. Retirement was the most difficult decision in my career, which might have been a bit difficult for me The injuries were forced.
“We decided to stay in Munich for a year to enjoy the city and get used to the idea of not playing football. I haven’t seen much in about six months and really enjoyed doing other things.”
“At some point the sports lover in you started to nag and I had trained to run the Rotterdam Marathon before the coronavirus crisis.”
Groningen came ninth when the eredivisie season came to a standstill due to the coronavirus pandemic. It was later canceled without a champion being declared and no teams relegated. The 2020-21 campaign is expected to start in September.
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