Real Madrid youngster Marc Cucalon has announced his premature retirement from professional football.
According to Sportskeeda, the youngster had to hang his boots after falling victim to a rare infection in 2022.
Cucalon, born in Zaragoza, would not continue playing football after a two-year battle with the bacterial infection in his knee.
The midfielder was captain of the club’s Juvenil A team in 2022 and played alongside the now-Como star Nico Paz in the academy.
Media Talk Africa reports that Cucalon suffered a ruptured ACL following a heavy tackle when Los Blancos’ U-19 team faced Celtic in the UEFA Youth League in Glasgow, Scotland in September 2022.
He was 17 years old then, but never returned to a football pitch afterwards.
He underwent surgery to fix the problem, only for bacteria to infiltrate the cartilage used to replace the ACL during the surgery.
This led to a rare infection, which has prevented the midfielder from carrying out any physical exercise on his knee since then.
Cucalon was very highly rated in La Fabrica, where his technical qualities on the ball saw him likened to Xabi Alonso.
