Thomas Vermaelen will no longer play. A look back at 18 years of career marked by an XL prize list which could have been even thicker… without his injuries.
This defeat of November 27 against Yokohama (0-2) was therefore the last appearance of Thomas Vermaelen with a jersey on his back. He probably didn’t suspect it himself. “I am very flexible about my future. I take all scenarios into account. he said to the newspaper De Morgen a week earlier, opening the doors to a new challenge after his departure from Japan.
His return to Belgium with his family and his few weeks without having to put his 36-year-old body to work, however, made him think. By stepping back, the native of Kapellen was able to be satisfied with the duty accomplished during this long career of eighteen years which he really started on February 15, 2004, with his first professional match for Ajax.
The one who discovered football at Germinal Ekeren (which later became Germinal Beerschot) at the age of 6 was in fact first forged with our Dutch neighbours. He left his Antwerp nest a few months before his majority to join the Amsterdam club in 2003. His hard work with the B team allowed him to receive his first professional minutes a few months later… and to already register a first line in his honors thanks to the crown in the Eredivisie (with only 90 minutes of play on the clock).
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