Former Chelsea Ladies of England and Juventus Femeni of Italy striker, Eni Aluko has announced her retirement from football, megasportsarena.com gathered.
The 32-year-old Nigerian-born former England international, who achieved 102 appearances for The Lionesses, left Juventus in December after nearly 18 months with the Serie A champions and had been tipped to return to the English Women’s Super League, only for her to shock her fans and admirers by quitting on Wednesday.
While making her decision kwon in a letter on Players Tribune, Aluko, who also played for the duo of Birmingham City and Charlton Athletic in England, as well as having a brief spell in North America, said she was happy with all she was able to achieve as a player.
Among her feats was being part of Great Britain’s team at the London 2012 Olympics, and the dark-skinned forward, who is also a trained lawyer, scored 33 goals for England’s national team, with which her last international appearance came in April 2016.
Her time with the team, however, ended in controversy, as she made misconduct allegations against the former boss, Mark Sampson, which resulted in scrutiny of his behaviour and the Football Association’s decision to eventually sack him on account of the complaints.
The episode concluded in October 2017, when a third investigation declared that Sampson made racially discriminatory remarks to Aluko and fellow player, Drew Spence in what were described as “ill-judged attempts at humour” by the national team gaffer.
Aluko wrote In her letter titled Dear Football: “My dear friend football, it’s time to hang up my boots and retire as a professional footballer. Thank you football for everything you’ve given and taught me. Thanks for the full circle moments & crazy unexpected journey.
“When we met… I was just a girl from a council estate in Birmingham. I could never have imagined the crazy, unbelievable journey you would take me on.
“You have given me the dream of playing in the US, the pride of representing England, the thrill of winning titles with Chelsea, the adventure of playing for Juventus in Italy. Whenever I have faced obstacles, you have shattered them. Whenever I have had great expectations, you have exceeded them.”
