Premier League player (29) tears cruciate ligament for the third time and ends career
Thursday, March 28, 2024 at 6:11 PM
Norbert Alblas is hanging up his boots after this season. The 29-year-old Excelsior goalkeeper suffered a cruciate ligament injury during training last week, the third in his career. Alblas has decided that he has had enough and will focus on being a trainer next season.
“I tore my cruciate ligament twice before, so I immediately knew that something was wrong,” says the unfortunate Alblas on the Excelsior club channels. “The striking thing was that the first two times it was my right knee, now it is the left. But I knew what it felt like. After it happened, I immediately thought about quitting goalkeeping.”
Alblas took some time last week to think about his future. His decision has now been made. “Because I don’t believe that after my rehabilitation I will get more out of my goalkeeping career than I have already achieved. I am proud of the career I have had, I think I have gotten everything out of it.”
“After two knee injuries, I have been on the field at Excelsior every day for the past two years with a smile and enjoyed it. Every day I did everything I could to become the first goalkeeper. My goal was to hopefully be there next season, but We’ll never know if it actually got that far.”
Alblas started his career at VV Amstelveen Heemraad and moved to AZ in 2006, where he stayed for five seasons. After two seasons in Alkmaar, Alblas moved to Ajax, where he would stay for seven years. A debut in Ajax 1 was not an option, although he did play 43 times for Jong Ajax. Via NEC and TOP Oss, Alblas ended up at Excelsior in 2022, where he became second choice behind Stijn van Gassel. Alblas ultimately played six matches for Excelsior.
Now that his active playing career is almost over, Alblas can already focus on being a trainer. “In recent years I have been working on developing myself as a coach. At the end of this season I hope to obtain my UEFA-B diploma, and from there I can further develop towards a job as a head coach. That is what I am now focusing on. As a trainer I will do everything I can to get further than as a goalkeeper, so I also want to achieve the highest possible level in that area.”
Alblas will no longer play for Excelsior, but will remain with the group in the near future. “As a trainer, I enjoy making players better, thinking about a way of playing and working with a group. I have always tried to help fellow players and I will continue to do so in the coming period. We still have a number of important competitions and will do everything we can to maintain ourselves.” Excelsior is fifteenth with 22 points, the same as sixteenth-placed RKC Waalwijk.
2024-03-28 17:11:00
#Premier #League #player #tears #cruciate #ligament #time #ends #career
