Bojan Krkic makes big admission as he insists Stoke City ‘always in his heart’
Bojan Krkic makes big admission as he insists Stoke City ‘always in his heart’
Bojan Krkic admits that he doesn’t miss playing at all as he revels in his key role off the pitch at first love Barcelona.
The Stoke City favourite hung up his boots in 2023 after playing and scoring in most of the top leagues in the world. He returned home and is now in a football co-ordinator role at the Nou Camp, where he had been feted for stardom as he progressed through the youth ranks.
It is a big job, particularly for someone so young, but he is loving life, saying: “I am quite young at 34, I could still be playing but the decisions you have to make in life sometimes you have to decide, and I decided to stop playing and start a new life in football.
“Right now there are many things to do in this big club, co-ordinate all the young players who come to train with us, to evaluate these young players and see when they can be ready to train with us, and when they have some struggle situations – injured or whatever – to chat with them.”
He added in an interview for the BBC Radio 5 Live’s Euro Leagues podcast: “I don’t miss playing football. I feel that was the end of a chapter in my life, I felt proud about what I did and what I learned from the good and the bad experiences.
“I see the players now when they are training and playing and I feel already I did this, and now I am on another step and looking forward.”
Bojan had won La Liga three times and the Champions League twice as a player while tasting loans at Ajax, AC Milan and a spell with Roma before moving to Stoke in 2014. It was there, under Mark Hughes, that he found the best form of his career.
He said: “It was one of the first big decisions I made in my career. It was to cut the umbilical cord with Barcelona after 12 years. I decided to do it because I knew it was the right decision, but in the moment it was hurting me a lot.
“For me, Stoke gave me a big opportunity to play for them and in the Premier League. We built one of the biggest moments in Stoke’s story. The fans and the players will always be in my heart and I’ve always said my top level in my career I did with them.”
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