On the evening of January 21, Beijing time, the Belgian Football Association officially announced that the 36-year-old Belgian legendary Center-back Vermalen retired. After retiring, he will join the Belgian coaching staff. Speaking about retiring and becoming a national team assistant coach, Vermalen said emotionally: "It is time to say goodbye to my playing career, as for the position of assistant coach of the national team, I am very much looking forward to this challenge, I am honored, very happy, especially grateful to be one of Robert Martinez's assistants to prepare for the World Cup in Qatar. ”
Born in 1985, Wilmålen is a 1.83-meter tall centre-back, nicknamed "Brother Potion", and he was once a full-fledged knife-bearing center-back. Vermalen, who debuted in Ajax academy, joined Arsenal in the Premier League in 2009 for a transfer fee of 12 million euros. During his five seasons with the Gunners, he captained the team to an FA Cup title.
In 2014, Vermalen joined Barcelona from Arsenal for a transfer fee of €19 million. During his time at Barcelona, he won 1 Champions League trophy, 4 La Liga trophies, 4 Copa del Rey trophies, 1 Spanish Super Cup trophy and 1 Club World Cup. Although most of these trophies have little to do with Vermalen, being a member of Barca is something he can be proud of for a lifetime.
After leaving Barca, Vermalen landed in the J-League to join The Victory Ship Kobe, remaining with his old teammate Iniesta until his retirement was announced. As the representative star of Belgium's "golden generation", Vermalen made his debut in the national team as early as 2006. At last summer's European Championship, Vermalen was still Belgium's main centre-back, and the quarter-final loss to Italy became Vermalen's last appearance for Belgium.
In 15 years, Vermalen has scored 2 goals in 85 games for the European Red Devils. However, although Belgium ranks first in the world, Vermalen did not win any major championships in his national team career, which is indeed regrettable for him and the Belgian men's football team.