Nottingham Forest centre-back has now officially retired

Felipe, Nottingham Forest’s centre-back, has officially retired as the season comes to a conclusion.

The 35-year-old was not granted the opportunity to play a final match, but he is content with the conclusion of his career.

Felipe gave a lengthy interview to Globo Esporte, during which he discussed some of his happiest moments in football as well as his reasons for retiring from professional football.

He stated that, despite not playing much for Nottingham Forest recently, he received numerous offers for the summer and turned them all down. He declined to name the majority of the clubs, but he did suggest there was a chance to continue playing in English football.

“From a financial standpoint, there was a lot of positive. Today, I believe it’s important to balance family and quality time. There was no use in going through this process, as I already had plans. I believe it was easy. I also understood the consequences. I have a post-football plan. Everything was carefully thought out, right?

“Look, I honestly prefer not to say. Four or five teams from Brazil came to look. In Portugal, Porto made an excellent offer. In Arabia, it was more about finances. There were some in Spain and England. But I would prefer not say.”

He explains that not even the money from Saudi Arabia couldn’t change his mind at this point.

“No, it didn’t. It’s like I said, I don’t think it did, putting quality time with my family in the balance, adding memories and all that. I don’t think there were any, nothing like that that filled my eyes, not even financially.

“In Brazil, it’s clearly easier, I could take days off, but we know it’s not that simple, right? The routine of a footballer, the dedication, going to bed early, eating. So we don’t have that much time for family matters, travelling, spending seven days somewhere. It’s not such a simple schedule. So I think this was the moment, the opportunity I saw.”

Felipe told Globo he’s now set to return to Brazil, where he’s spending more time with his family and will start thinking about having children. He said that he liked most places he lived during his career, although he’s clearly not a big fan of the English weather.

“Here in England we know it’s not one of the best climates, right? It’s quite complicated, a place that has, I don’t know, two months of sunshine, the rest is all rain and closed weather. But when it comes to football, it’s one of the best, it’s the league that enchants the most. Portugal has its Brazilian customs, it’s very similar. It wasn’t difficult at all, a very good place to live. I lived in Porto, very nice there. And the experience in Madrid, because it’s a big city, you have more freedom to go to a restaurant and so on. People are very respectful. Everyone has their own way of life, but I think in general, from a country perspective, England is more complicated.”