Bojan Krkic talks about his life after leaving the club, why Stoke feels like his second home and his latest adventure in Japan, where he plays for Vissel Kobe with Andres Iniesta.
続きを読む about his journey to Japan in this article.
At 31, Bojan reflects on his career. A two-time Champions League winner with Barcelona and folk hero at Stoke City, he has played and scored for AC Milan, Roma and Ajax. Now he is enjoying a new adventure in Japan with his old friend Andres Iniesta.
Bojan is not finished in case you are wondering. Since New Year's Eve, he has been in Japan preparing for the upcoming season with Vissel Kobe and embracing the culture of a new continent.
He says he feels a special connection with Japanese culture. Everyone wants to visit Japan at some point in their life. I was telling my friends about vacationing here last summer. Soon after, I got an offer to play for Vissel. It is a privilege.
Bojan played 163 games for Barcelona in four seasons. He won the La Liga three times, the Champions League twice and scored in the Copa del Rey final. Lionel Messi was the only other player to score at least half a dozen goals for the club in each of those seasons.
He hasn't visited the Camp Nou in years, and now it's hard for him to watch the games on television because of the time zone difference. But he still feels that connection. "I will always be a Barça fan," he says. "It's not something you decide, it's something you feel."
His time at Stoke taught him that there was a world beyond Barcelona in which he could still thrive. He was a key figure in what became a mid-table Premier League team under Mark Hughes, and the warmth with which he speaks of that experience shines through.
"Stoke, for me, is my second home," he says. "It's the place where I've enjoyed playing soccer the most."
"My favorite moment was when they chanted my name for the first time, the whole stadium. What's that? They chanted my name because they respected me, loved me, not because they called me Bojan. There was a special connection to the day I arrived.
For now, he is enjoying Japan. "The quality is high. One of the things that surprised me was the intensity of the game here. There are no easy leagues now." But it won't be long before he thinks about life after soccer, a career he is already considering.
"I learned a lot studying to be a sports director. I prefer that to coaching. A coach has to manage 25 players. The sports director can really build a team. I like the idea of discovering young talent and focusing more on the human side of the game.
And when your playing days are over, there will be no regrets.
"Yes, you can say it could have been better. Everything in life can always be better. But it could have been much worse. How many players have quality, but didn't even succeed as professionals? Maybe it wasn't the right time maybe they got injured.
"I am completely satisfied with my career. I still consider it a privilege to have experienced everything I've experienced.
"Everything I'm still experiencing."
