German legend Miroslav Klose opens up on quitting football, says flashiness took away the recognition

Germany legend Miroslav Klose opened up on quitting football and what he thinks the future holds for the most followed sport worldwide. Klose is regarded as one of the best strikers of his time, holding the record for scoring the most World Cup goals (16) despite retiring shortly after the 2014 edition, where they were crowned the champion.

Klose feels there is a daylight difference between how football was looked up to, played, treated and worshipped before.

Speaking of what made him step aside from the sport that gave him everything, the former German striker said earlier players used to love playing football and were just concerned about this, but now the emerging players are worried more about the cars, contracts and sponsors instead.

Klose said the beautiful game had lost its purity, and when he stopped recognising this game, he decided to hang his boots. 

“I stopped playing football because I no longer recognised it,” Klose said. “Today, young players think about other things. As a child, I only thought about training and becoming someone in this sport that I always loved.”

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Citing the example of the difference in training while he grew up and now, Klose said, 

"At Lazio and in the national team, after each training session, I put myself in a bathtub full of ice to avoid injuries. But the young players on the team systematically refused." 

“When they saw me picking up the bags of balls to put them away at the end of training, they said to me 'But who tells you to do that?'. 

“At that moment, I said to myself: 'You're 20 years old, and you can't help a 60-year-old worker?'

“They care more about whether their boots go with their socks. That's why I said stop. The football I knew no longer exists,” the German legend noted.

Flashiness killed the zeal

With massive player contracts and countless money coming along with it, the zeal to play and perform consistently at the top level seems to have lost its place in line. 

Klose feels instead of worrying about their performances and the urge to leave behind a legacy, the players like flashing their new cars and boots. 

“Today's young players think first of cars, contracts with their sponsors, and their new boots. It is only after all these things that football comes," Klose said. 

“For them, their image is the most important thing. Whereas for me, all that mattered was football in its purest form,” he added.