Former Leicester Forward, Shinji Okazaki Announces Retirement
Shinji Okazaki, the former Leicester city forward, who won the Premier League title with the team has announced he will retire from football at the end of the season at the age of 37.
Okazaki, joined the Foxes in the summer of 2015 and scored a total of five goals in his debut season to help the club defy the odds and win the league under Italian manager Claudio Ranieri.
“I have given my all as a footballer up to now,” Okazaki posted on Instagram.
“When I realized that my body was falling apart I naturally felt I had reached my limits.“
Injuries have restricted Okazaki to just five appearances for Sint-Truidense in the Jupiler Pro League this season and he has not played since 16 December.
Okazaki is third on Japan’s all-time scoring list, registering 50 goals in 119 appearances, and he was part of the Japan team that won the Asian Cup in 2011. He also featured for his country at three World Cups.
He began his professional career in his homeland with Shimizu S-Pulse before moving across to Europe to sign for Bundesliga club Stuttgart in 2011.
After two years with German side Mainz between 2013 and 2015, Leicester came calling and he featured 36 times in their title-winning campaign.
Okazaki left Leicester when his contract expired at the end of the 2018-19 season and he joined Spanish side Malaga on a free.
However, his deal was canceled after just 34 days – before he had even played a game – with the club unable to pay his wages.
