Former Kaizer Chiefs and Cape Town City star Lebogang Manyama has announced his forced retirement from professional football at the age of 32 due to a knee injury on Friday.
Manyama took to social media to break his sudden retirement, disclosing that he was miraculously misdiagnosed with a Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL) injury, while he had inface torn his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).
“Today marks a very sad day for me as I have to call time on my football chapter as a player,” Manyama wrote on Instagram.
“But it is one that I take with my head held up high because never did I think I would be so blessed to showcase my talent and meet so many wonderful souls along the way.
“For that, I want to thank my family for the undying support from when I was still a little boy kicking the ball in Alex and thanks to all my junior teams I played for in Alex and Balfour Football Club.”
Manyama has been out of action since he parted ways with Amakhosi and missed the entire 2022/23 DStv Premiership season.
The former Absa Premiership Golden Boot award was tipped to make a comeback by Cape Town City chairman John Comitis, who confirmed that coach Eric Tinkler would be keen to welcome back Manyama in training when he’s ready to return to the field.
In his social media post, Manyama said his injury was worsened by rehabilitating it on the wrong place, which has since forced his retirement from football.
Manyama hangs his boots, having made 320 appearances in all competitions, scoring 55 goals and providing 39 assists over 12 seasons in professional football career.
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