He was considered Barcelona's worst signing ever and has just retired from soccer

Can you dream any bigger than playing an amazing World Cup for your country and signing for Barcelona? Perhaps another big club, but anybody in soccer would love that deal. There’s a man on Earth who lived that but still couldn’t go on with a life and career matching such an achievement.

This player has just retired from soccer at the age of 34, after playing for Barcelona, having spells in Netherlands and the Bundesliga, apart from the English Premier League. He managed to show fantastic moments in a World Cup, but injuries dropped his career back. And now, he was decided to conclude his professional days.

Born in Utrecht, Netherlands, he was part of the Under-20 national team in the World Cup played in home soil in 2005, and after an extraordinary performance in South Africa 2010 edition, he was transferred to Barcelona from his youth-life PSV Eindhoven, he played with names like Lionel Messi, Andrés Iniesta, Dani Alves and Gerard Piqué.

After that, Ibrahim Afellay suffered an cruciate-ligament injury by the end of 2011. He was never the same, and after a final season in PSV, he had been waiting for an offer to come since the last summer transfer market. On NPO Studio Voetbal, the TV show in which he works as a soccer analyst, he said: “It’s time. I’ve taken the decision. I would have like to play one more season, but not at any cost”.