Liverpool

Liverpool goalkeeper Alex Manninger to retire from professional football

By Giuseppe Labellarte, Reporter | 25 May 2017

Veteran goalkeeper Alex Manninger announces that he will call time on a 22-year-old career in professional football when his Liverpool contract ends this summer.

Alex Manninger has announced that he will retire from professional football when his Liverpool contract ends this summer.

The 39-year-old goalkeeper, who won the double with Arsenal in 1998, is to call time on a 22-year career featuring spells in each of Europe's top four leagues.

Manninger was capped 34 times by Austria and spent the final season of his career at Anfield, where he was back-up to Simon Mignolet and Loris Karius.

He told the Liverpool website: "I wasn't going to announce it initially, but then I thought it'd be a nice gesture to announce it via the club I was last with.

"I thought about it a couple of months ago and I was keen to decide myself, not wait again for the summer and whether I receive a phone call or not.

"I feel good, I finished at a high level I never dreamed of. If I played for big clubs at my peak, that's one thing, but to have had this experience now with the staff, coaches and players of Liverpool is fantastic.

"I've had one of the greatest experiences in my career here, but it is time."

Manninger played 16 times during Arsenal's first double-winning season under Arsene Wenger.