Source: SKY_Sports
Laursen puts health first
Martin Laursen put enjoying the rest of his life before trying to carry on playing after announcing his retirement from football.
The former Aston Villa defender missed the bulk of the second half of the Premier League season after failing to recover from a knee injury.
The Danish stopper had been told with further surgery he may have had a chance of prolonging his career, but it would have been a long and arduous journey.
After giving his future some careful consideration the 31-year-old has decided the time is right to hang up his playing boots, despite being near 100 per cent less than six months ago.
Retirement"I'm retiring from football," said Laursen on Sky Sports News. "I can't recover from my knee injury so I have to retire.
"I've been making up my mind, thinking about things, deciding whether I wanted to go ahead with the operation and try and see if I could come back or if I should retire.
"My decision was to retire because it would have been a very difficult and big operation. At this point it's better for my health and my future life to say that's it.
"It's so strange that I'm sitting here making an announcement that I'm not going to be able to play football anymore when five months ago, half a year ago, I was flying. I was in the shape of my life playing every game and felt so well physically and really on top of my game.
"Now I'm sitting here five months later not being able to play football anymore. It's weird and I was really sad, but I've had time to think about it and I feel better and relaxed. I can honestly say that's life. Life has to go on for me as well."
