The 26-year-old Inter Milan veteran Van Heusden announced his retirement and suffered a serious knee ligament injury for the third time in his career this month.

November 22 News: 26-year-old Belgian defender Van Heusden announced his retirement. He suffered the third serious knee ligament injury in his career this month.

Van Hesden entered Inter Milan’s youth training in 2015, when he was only 16 years old. In 2017, Van Hesden was promoted to the Inter Milan first team, and has since been rented out many times. He also made his debut for the Belgian national team in October 2020. This summer, Van Heusden officially left Inter Milan when his contract expired, and freely joined the Marbella Club in Spain. He made 7 appearances this season.

In the game on November 9, Van Hesden ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament of his left knee. This was the third time in his career that he suffered a serious injury from cruciate ligament rupture. Van Hesden subsequently returned to Belgium for surgery and officially announced his retirement on Friday.

Van Hesden said: "Today I made a decision that I never thought I would make at this age. After 22 years of football - I started playing football at the age of 4 - my career as a professional player is over. Football has made me who I am today, and football has given me a life that I never dared to dream of when I was a child."

"I have been coming to the Skrecin Stadium with my father to support me since I was a child. My favorite club (Standard Liege), to playing 100 games for the team, to scoring goals, and even having the honor of being captain. And that's not all... The opportunity to make my debut with the national team and to play in Serie A makes the beginning of my career seem unreal."

"In addition to all the good experiences, the last few years have been difficult, more difficult than I imagined. Injuries, surgeries, injections, medicines... I gave everything to recover, but every time it was harder. I kept looking for my best, often playing with injuries, not sure how my body would react the next day after every training or game. "

"In my heart, I always want to continue to be a ball player. player, but my body has already sent the signal that "enough is enough". Therefore, I made this decision out of responsibility for myself, my health, and as a father. It feels incredible to write these words, but I hope to be able to live without pain, to play football with my son, and to share life with my family... I don't know what life will be like without football, but now I have to understand this."