According to a statement by the English club on Friday, Ikeme disclosed his retirement to his teammates before a training session at Compton three days ago.
He took the decision after consultation with medical experts following his 12-month battle with acute leukaemia.
The 32-year-old had taken to Twitter in June to announce that he was in complete remission from the disease after ‘a tough year and intense chemotherapy’.
He intends to take some time off with his young family before embarking on life after football.
Ikeme was first called up to the national team in March 2007 by former Super Eagles coach Berti Vogts, who named a 37-man provisional squad for the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualification match against Uganda.
He, however, made his international debut in September 2015 when Nigeria faced Tanzania in the 2017 AFCON qualification match.
The stopper has 10 international caps for the Eagles who honoured him at the 2018 Russia World Cup by naming him as their 24th squad member.
But was he unable to make it to the final stage of the tournament due to his cancer treatment.
.jpeg)
0 comments:
Post a Comment