Ghoochannejad moves to Al Wakreh of Qatar

[Kiarash]

Ghoochannejad moves to Al Vakreh of Qatar

In order to choose there has to be something to choose from in the first place. There just wasn't any real interest in him from Dutch premier league teams. And if there wasn't any back then, then surely there won't be any coming now that he screwed himself by going to Kuwait and now Qatar!

I heard his old club Cambuur Leeuwarden was interested to sign him after the World Cup, but Ghoochannejhad wanted to play for Al-Kuwait.

[Amin_]

I heard his old club Cambuur Leeuwarden was interested to sign him after the World Cup, but Ghoochannejhad wanted to play for Al-Kuwait.

There were some rumors and some kind of an interest, but it wasn't all that serious from what I know.

[OFFSIDE_1]

Once you go ARab money you don't go back (unless you have ali karimi talent)

agreed. I don't think you'll ever see Dejagah or RGN playing in Europe anymore which is so sad, especially with Dejagah.

[Camran khan]

As much as this sucks, I don't think it is that much of his fault compared to the move to Kuwait, honestly, I seriously doubt after playing in Kuwait that any European team would be interested in him. Qatar and some other tokhmi middle eastern teams were probably his only choice now.

[ShirFarhad]

There were some rumors and some kind of an interest, but it wasn't all that serious from what I know.

I think he didn't want to come back to the Netherlands himself. Agil's brother (Etemadi) also said that Vitesse was seriously interested in him, but Ghoochannejad didn't want to come back to the Netherlands.

Honestly, I don't blame him. He's a great striker for us, but he doesn't have the overall skillset players like Azmoun, Jahanbakhsh or Dejagah have. They all can still go to decent clubs in Europe and get a nice income too. I think Reza can still find a mid table team in Europe as he's an EU player and thus clubs in for example Netherlands can offer him any salary they want to. However, that's exactly the reason why he probably doesn't want to come back to the Netherlands and I fully understand him. The best paid players in a club like Cambuur Leeuwarden earn 120.000 euros a year (GROSS). If you take off the taxes, he would earn AT MOST around 65.000 euros (74.000 USD) a year. Now, you guys tell me. Would you still choose to play in a club like Cambuur Leeuwarden when you can easily earn ten times more in Qatar?

[KC McElroy]

I think he didn't want to come back to the Netherlands himself. Agil's brother (Etemadi) also said that Vitesse was seriously interested in him, but Ghoochannejad didn't want to come back to the Netherlands.

Honestly, I don't blame him. He's a great striker for us, but he doesn't have the overall skillset players like Azmoun, Jahanbakhsh or Dejagah have. They all can still go to decent clubs in Europe and get a nice income too. I think Reza can still find a mid table team in Europe as he's an EU player and thus clubs in for example Netherlands can offer him any salary they want to. However, that's exactly the reason why he probably doesn't want to come back to the Netherlands and I fully understand him. The best paid players in a club like Cambuur Leeuwarden earn 120.000 euros a year (GROSS). If you take off the taxes, he would earn AT MOST around 65.000 euros (74.000 USD) a year. Now, you guys tell me. Would you still choose to play in a club like Cambuur Leeuwarden when you can easily earn ten times more in Qatar?

I would and I have made similar financial decisions when my pride was on the line.

[Amin_]

Now, you guys tell me. Would you still choose to play in a club like Cambuur Leeuwarden when you can easily earn ten times more in Qatar?

Well if I was confident and convinced about my own abilities, then at his age I would defnitely try to get back into Europe as soon as possible! Going to Persian Gulf countries is always an opportunity and makes sense for older players to go there towards the end of their career. Not for a player Reza's age who just came from a WC as a starter and has many more pros compared to the cons many other Iranian players have to deal with. You have already mentioned the most important pro, which is the fact that he's a EU player.

It seems like either Reza doesn't care much for a career, or he's just smart enough to know himself well and he's not convinced about his own abilities based on what he has already experienced in Europe, so he wants to cash in as soon as and as much as possible before it's too late.

[sirvan]

When a soccer player's playing career is over it doesn't mean he no longer makes money. Get a job after you stop playing.
Show some pride and don't just chase money. Last time this subject popped up there was a member on PFDC who said he was willing to give koon for $200,000 but I'd like to think our players are better than that.

You have to ask yourself who'd want to hire a 30 year something man who has zero working experience (playing football is not considered a job anywhere) and most players also lack a study degree. Gucci is a decent player, nothing more, i personally think it's good what he's doing considering his talent. He's not good enough to play in Europe's top leagues, he is good enough for decent leagues such as Belgium, Holland, Austria etc but he will never make enough money there to retire after football, also considering he started playing professional football late at Standard Liege, and what do you want him to do? Work as a janitor at 35? If Gucci had the talent of Karimi or Azmoun i'd say yes he is wasting his talent, but he's not, if i where Gucci i'd play in those leagues as long as i could! And retire with a couple of millions of dollars, get a good education at a top university, and maybe invest in something. Gucci is thinking about his future, good for him.

[KC McElroy]

You have to ask yourself who'd want to hire a 30 year something man who has zero working experience (playing football is not considered a job anywhere) and most players also lack a study degree. Gucci is a decent player, nothing more, i personally think it's good what he's doing considering his talent. He's not good enough to play in Europe's top leagues, he is good enough for decent leagues such as Belgium, Holland, Austria etc but he will never make enough money there to retire after football, also considering he started playing professional football late at Standard Liege, and what do you want him to do? Work as a janitor at 35? If Gucci had the talent of Karimi or Azmoun i'd say yes he is wasting his talent, but he's not, if i where Gucci i'd play in those leagues as long as i could! And retire with a couple of millions of dollars, get a good education at a top university, and maybe invest in something. Gucci is thinking about his future, good for him.

You think the money he makes now will last him the rest of his life? He will have to get a job afterwards anyway. I made a complete career change at age 41. So can any soccer player. I'd gladly work as a janitor or at McDonalds if it meant keeping my pride intact. I'm not the guy on PFDC who was willing to give koon for $200,000.
Even if he doesn't wanna get a desk job there are plenty of soccer related jobs he could pursue.

[sirvan]

You think the money he makes now will last him the rest of his life? He will have to get a job afterwards anyway. I made a complete career change at age 41. So can any soccer player. I'd gladly work as a janitor or at McDonalds if it meant keeping my pride intact. I'm not the guy on PFDC who was willing to give koon for $200,000.
Even if he doesn't wanna get a desk job there are plenty of soccer related jobs he could pursue.

Yes i do, Gucci is 27 years of age, let's say he plays untill he's 33 in Qatar/Dubai/China etc, and he makes 500.000-1.000.000 a year. in the six years that he plays he'll make between 3 to 6 million dollars. That\s enough for him to retire. You made a crareer change at 41, but you had work experience and i'm sure education at a university. Football players lack any working experience, no one will give them a desk job, and why would anyone want to work at McDonalds? Gucci has his pride intact, he serves his country more than well. He works at Qatar or wherever, but he serves his country, don't forget that.

[O-ZoNe]

At this point, it could have been worst. He could have stayed in Kuwait which would have been a career killer IMO. This move if temporary could give him greater exposure to move somewhere else (at least we can all hope).

[Ghermez Agha]

In order to choose there has to be something to choose from in the first place. There just wasn't any real interest in him from Dutch premier league teams. And if there wasn't any back then, then surely there won't be any coming now that he screwed himself by going to Kuwait and now Qatar!

Relily? I could have sworn he had 2-3 eredivise teams that were interested in him but he opted to go for charlton. I'll see if I can dig anything out.

[OFFSIDE_1]

You think the money he makes now will last him the rest of his life? He will have to get a job afterwards anyway. I made a complete career change at age 41. So can any soccer player. I'd gladly work as a janitor or at McDonalds if it meant keeping my pride intact. I'm not the guy on PFDC who was willing to give koon for $200,000.
Even if he doesn't wanna get a desk job there are plenty of soccer related jobs he could pursue.

you made a career change using many of the experiences you gained from your previous career plus a college degree. Not knowing how you made your career change, I can still say, your situation is probably not comparable to a soccer player who has no degree, and the best he can hope for is a minimum salary coaching job.

I don't like the fact either that he plays in qatar, but, at the end of the day, just like the rest of us, he will have bills to pay, and having 4 million in the bank is much better than having none. At 28, there is no more upside to his game, so for the remaining years left, his game will be going downwards. This is his last chance at making sure he does not end up working at McDonald.

[Amin_]

Relily? I could have sworn he had 2-3 eredivise teams that were interested in him but he opted to go for charlton. I'll see if I can dig anything out.

Yeah like I said there were some rumors of some interest here and there, but it wasn't anything all that serious from what I remember. I could be wrong though, perhaps I just missed it

[KC McElroy]

Yes i do, Gucci is 27 years of age, let's say he plays untill he's 33 in Qatar/Dubai/China etc, and he makes 500.000-1.000.000 a year. in the six years that he plays he'll make between 3 to 6 million dollars. That\s enough for him to retire. You made a crareer change at 41, but you had work experience and i'm sure education at a university. Football players lack any working experience, no one will give them a desk job, and why would anyone want to work at McDonalds? Gucci has his pride intact, he serves his country more than well. He works at Qatar or wherever, but he serves his country, don't forget that.

So many players out there with degrees and jobs after soccer. This was the just an excuse to not work later. See the koon for $200,000 example. Would you give koon for $200,000 if you thought you couldn't get a desk job and you didn't wanna work at McDonalds?