Chelsea striker Gonzalo Higuain has opted to retire from international football in order to fully concentrate on club football.
Higuain represented Argentina between 2009-2018. During his nine-year international career, he scored 31 goals from 75 appearances. He represented his country at six major tournaments: the 2010 World Cup, the 2011 Copa America, the 2014 World Cup, the 2015 Copa America, the 2016 Copa America Centenario and most recently, the 2018 World Cup.
“My time with Argentina is over,” said Higuain to reporters as reported by The Standard. “I’m fully focused on my commitment to Chelsea.
“Obviously when the criticism turns nasty it hurts everybody. I gave everything to the team. My family has suffered more than me. I think people have shown a lack of respect for the work that I have done. I am very proud and happy with my whole career. I played in the best three leagues in the world, in the best teams.
“It is not easy to play in Real Madrid for seven years, then to play in Napoli, Juventus, AC Milan and now at Chelsea. I’m fully focused on my commitment to Chelsea. The Premier League is amazing and I really want to enjoy it. It’s very competitive indeed.”
Higuain retires from international football without having won a major international trophy, although he did help his nation finish as runners up at the 2014 World Cup, the 2015 Copa America and the 2016 Copa America Centenario.
Higuain is doing the right thing by retiring from international football. He is now in the latter part of his career and may be able to extend his professional career by not continuing to expose his body to the roughness of international football.
Higuain arrived at Chelsea this January. The club had hoped that he would be able to solve the problems of the team in front of goal with neither Olivier Giroud nor Alvaro Morata being prolific during the first half of the campaign. The latter has since gone to Atletico Madrid on loan.
The 31-year-old Higuain has so far drawn mixed reactions for his performances at Stamford Bridge. He has scored three goals in the league from several games but those goals did come against bottom two clubs Huddersfield Town and Fulham, both of whom are bound to be relegated this season.
