Steed Malbranque, who spent 10 seasons in the Premier League with Fulham, Tottenham and Sunderland, has retired from football to spend more time with his cancer-stricken four-year-old son.
It brings the end to a 15-year career that started with Lyon in 1997 and spanned 498 games. He scored 64 goals and became known not only as a guy with a cool name, but as a trustworthy midfielder as well.
Malbranque recently completed a move to Saint-Etienne of Ligue 1 in France. Despite signing a two-year contract with the team upon arrival, the 31-year-old veteran knew his family needed him more than the game ever could and decided to call it quits.
The Belgian was one of the most consistent defensive midfielders in the Premier League over the past decade, but had lost a step as the 13 straight seasons of at least 20 games began to catch up with him. That said, he would have still been able to provide Les Verts with two productive seasons.
Perhaps the biggest story to emerge from this unfortunate turn of events is that Malbranque understood and illustrated to the world what really matters in life. As much as an afternoon soccer game seems like life and death, there are people (even young children) battling a real opponent every single day.
That opponent is cancer.
Sadly, cancer is an opponent that isn't nearly as easy to beat as a soccer team. Malbranque knew his son would be going through unimaginable pain during treatment and couldn't risk being on the road during the fight.
Whenever a professional athlete is nearing the end of their career, the line you hear most often goes something like, “They can't retire because they won't know what to do with themselves.”
Malbranque knows what he has to do. He has to spend every waking moment caring for his young son, who has not yet even begun to understand his importance to his parents. Malbranque will spend as long as it takes to defeat the cursed opponent, proving to his son just how important he is in the process.
It's not about the money, Malbranque's got enough of that. It's not about the fame as he never seemed to relish it anyway. It's about family.
Malbranque knew that he would regret continuing to play if he was at an away contest against Brest or Lille and his son took a turn for the worse. Walking away was the right decision.
It's going to be a long battle for Malbranque's son, but at least he now knows there's going to be tireless defender on his side every step of the way.
Francisco Cervelli Chad Moeller Jorge Posada Lance Berkman Reegie Corona Juan Miranda
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