Former Bayern Munich star Ribery close to terminating Salernitana contract and retiring from football
Ribery #Ribery
The veteran winger is currently with Serie A’s bottom club and may decide against seeing out the remainder of the 2021-22 campaign
Former Bayern Munich star Franck Ribery is thinking of terminating his contract with Salernitana and retiring from football, GOAL can confirm.
Ribery joined Salernitana on a free transfer after leaving Fiorentina last summer, committing to a one-year deal with the newly-promoted Serie A outfit.
The 38-year-old has played 12 games for Salernitana this term, but has been powerless to prevent them from falling to bottom of the table, and is now mulling over whether to hang up his boots.
What’s the situation?
GOAL understands Ribery is currently mulling over his options, and could look to cut short his stay at Arechi Stadium by six months.
The Frenchman would be able to sign for another club as a free agent if he leaves Salernitana before 8pm on deadline day, but he does not intend to carry on playing.
Ribery has not yet informed the club of his final decision and his representatives are in the process of trying to convince him to see out his contract.
However, Salernitana are also taking the necessary steps to line up a replacement for Ribery, with former Roma and Fenerbahce winger Diego Perotti having been identified as a target by the club’s sporting director Walter Sabatini.
Ribery’s career
Ribery began his career at Boulogne in 2000 and spent two seasons on their books before spells at Ales, Brest, Metz, Galatasaray and Marseille over the next five years.
Bayern came calling in 2007 and the France international took his game to new heights at Allianz Arena while winning nine Bundesliga titles and the Champions League.
Ribery left Bayern with 124 goals and 182 assists from 425 appearances in 2019 and subsequently joined Fiorentina on a two-year deal.
He won La Viola’s Player of the Year award in 2019-20 but wasn’t quite as impressive the following campaign and left at the end of his contract, with Salternitana then giving him the chance to extend his career in Serie A.
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