Charly Musonda Retires from Football at 28
Former Chelsea footballer Charly Musonda has announced his retirement from professional football at the age of 28. Musonda, who represented Belgium in lower categories from the Under-15 to the Under-21, recently played for the Cypriot club Anorthosis between 2023 and 2024. He joined Chelsea’s academy from Anderlecht of Belgium in 2012, and much was expected of him, but despite having a contract with Chelsea for 10 years, he only played seven games in all competitions. In the Rising Ballers podcast, Musonda, who was on loan at Real Betis, Vitesse and Celtic while at Chelsea, stated: “I have a big announcement today. It’s not easy, but it’s something I’ve been thinking about for a long time.”
Musonda was training with the reserves, after recovering from a serious knee injury that kept him out for two years, when he had a chance encounter with the then Chelsea coach, Thomas Tuchel, in a parking lot. “It was the first time I met him, he told me: ‘I’m looking forward to seeing you back’ and I said to him: ‘Don’t worry, I’ll be back for the preseason.” “Because in my mind, it was always the preseason and I would return with the first team and we would see from there, so I returned for the preseason and that’s where things got complicated, that was the end of my time at Chelsea.”“The exit killed me, it killed me mentally, it was the worst,” he added.
