Offside Sound Off: Which Retired Player from the Last 10 Years Would You Like to See Make a Comeback?

Colombian striker Antony de Ávila (aka El Pitufo or The Smurf, as he’s 5′3″ small) is coming out of retirement. Nothing so unusual about that… except that de Ávila retired a full 10 years ago at the already advanced age (for a footballer) of 36.

A decade later, the 46 year old El Pitufo is making his Sinatra/Foreman style comeback with his first club (and current Colombian champions) America de Cali, where he’s already scored 201 goals in two previous spells.

Which brings us to the question: If you could bring any player who’s retired in the last 10 years back to professional football… who would it be?

There’s one very obvious answer. A certain monk-hairstyled someone who retired in 2006 (in dramatic circumstances) and is still only 37. You know who I’m talking about, but I’ll leave that answer for someone else (hi Laurie!).

For myself I’d love to see Mr. Matt Le Tissier back in action. Here’s a reminder for anyone too young to remember him:

The Southampton legend (they called him “Le God”, and he never played for anyone else) almost single handedly kept Southampton in the Premier League in the ’90s with goals like the above. He retired in 2002 and is now 40 years old, and – I think it’s fair to say – carrying a little extra weight.

But Le Tiss was never the most, shall we say, energetic of players. And with Southampton now down in League One (third tier of English football) for the 2009/10 season, it’s not impossible to imagine a 40 year old Le Tiss waddling off the bench, flicking the ball up with his first touch, and finding the top corner from 30 yards out.

So there’s mine. Who would you like to see come out of retirement?

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Category: World Football