They paid almost 40 million for him, and the footballer ended his career at the age of 31: “My body betrayed me”

Ashley Davis15/11/2025

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Article by Mihai Șovei – Published Saturday, November 15, 2025, 4:03 p.m. / Updated Saturday, November 15, 2025, 4:04 p.m.

Mattia Caldara announced on Saturday that he is ending his career at the age of 31, a decision marked by numerous physical problems, especially after the 2018/19 season, when he suffered two serious injuries, one to his Achilles tendon and another to his knee.

In an open letter published on the website of journalist Gianluca Di Marzio, the defender for whom AC Milan paid almost 40 million euros left an emotional testimony.

Mattia Caldara retires at 31 years old

The Italian defender made the decision to retire from football at the age of 31. He came to San Siro for almost 40 million euros, but in the 2018/19 season he suffered two injuries that marked his career. One to the Achilles tendon, another to the knee. In an emotional letter, the footballer explained his decision.

“A white sheet, a pen. I close my eyes, I breathe out. I open them again, the time has come. Dear football, I say goodbye to you. I decided to stop. No, it was not an easy decision. It is not even easy to write these words. « Dear football, I say goodbye to you ». I keep re-reading them. Maybe it is a way to accept. To accept a little more. Now I have found some peace, but it took me time to I make this decision. It all started in July, after a consultation with a specialist: “Mattia, you no longer have cartilage in your ankle. If you continue, in a few years we will have to put a prosthesis on you.” My body had betrayed me. This time, maybe, definitively”, he wrote.

“It's been difficult months. Years, in fact. And I'm not just talking about this choice, I'm talking about much more. I'm talking about what my life has been like since I broke my knee. I still remember the first step after the incident. I felt the ground give way under my feet. I collapsed. First physically, then mentally. I was at the peak of my career and in a few seconds everything changed. In time, I improved, but I was never again okay. Never. I could never be that Caldara again,” he continued.

Caldara says he is leaving football to “take control” of life.

I tried, but it was no longer possible. This pursuit of an illusion has exhausted me. I just wanted to be who I had been, to be myself. To resume that dream I was living and, at the same time, chasing. That dream turned into a utopia. You see, sometimes trying to reach a utopia can help go along. In my case, it destroyed me. My and others' expectations, the hope for the impossible, the frustration: it was too much for me, I wasn't ready. I was not well. I was no longer myself, not even with the people I loved. I could no longer walk on the street with my head held high. Sadness, frustration, darkness. I don't know if it's called depression. But I know what I felt. I decided to quit. Not to forget. I decided to quit to take control of my life.

– Mattia Caldara

“That week my life changed”

Then the former Italian international recalled the two serious injuries suffered in Milan: “I arrived in Milan. It was my big chance. All my hopes were placed in those colors. However, the dream quickly turned into a nightmare. October, a training session like so many others. I was running and suddenly I felt something I had never felt before, like someone had shot me in the tendon. I thought I had been stepped on ankle.

On his return, however, bad luck struck him again. Musacchio was suspended, it would have been my turn. I was finally going to play in Serie A again. I waited so long for that moment. I was feeling good. I felt good in that practice on Thursday too. I had waited a year for that moment. It was all over in seconds.

I have that image in front of me. Borini falls on my knee. I got up to run again, I couldn't have injured myself again. As soon as I set foot, I fell to the ground. My leg was no longer holding me, my knee was destroyed. A sound, a second, a moment. My soul was devastated. In that moment, something changed irreversibly. “I had recovered from the tendon injury, but the knee was different. I could feel it. 'I'll never be the same again.' A page in my life had closed forever. I didn't know yet. That week, my life changed. It changed forever,” he confessed.