Espanyol Veteran Ivan De la Pena Will Retire if Injuries Persist

Espanyol veteran Ivan De la Pena has revealed that if his fitness does not start to improve soon he will retire from professional football but insists he will try anything to recover his fitness.

Persistent injury problems have restricted him to nine complete league games in the last two and a half seasons and with muscular problems continuing since the preseason the 33-year-old midfielder believes it might be time to call it a day.

"This time it [retiring] passed through my mind, this time more than ever because I cannot train. I suffer and did not want to reach this situation. I just want to play and try to finish and if I can't, I'll leave and let the club do what it deems necessary with the last year of my contract," he told a press conference.

De la Pena is the latest footballer to try mare's placenta to aid recovery after visiting Serbian specialist Marijana Kovacevic on the recommendation of former team-mate Albert Riera. Now he says feels good after the treatment and added he will travel anywhere to help his recuperation.

"I feel good these days after treatment, but my purpose is to find the solution to the problem. What I want is to play, feel comfortable and important. If I make this decision it is because I want to play, it would be easy to stay home. I'll go to Japan, Madrid or wherever necessary to understand what is happening to me," he declared.