Gonzalo Higuain Retired. A Career Destroyed by Social Media?

Argentine soccer player Gonzalo Higuain announced his retirement last Monday at the age of 34. An international player who played for River Plate, Juventus and Real Madrid, among others, Higuain is recognized above all for his incredible stage as a goalscorer in Serie A and La Liga.

His professional career ended in David Beckham's Inter Miami in the US league, where he scored 27 goals in a total of 65 games. "The day has come to say goodbye to soccer, a profession that gave me so much, and I feel privileged to have lived it with its good and not so good moments," said the player at a press conference that he also posted on his Twitter.

A figure of the Argentine National Team

In addition to his career in the various international leagues, Higuain was also essential for the Argentine soccer team, where he scored 31 goals in 71 games. 'Pipita' will be remembered as one of the great strikers in the country's history, just like 'Kun' Agüero or Leo Messi. He played three World Cups with the Albiceleste, the first being the World Cup in South Africa. His goal against Belgium served to take Argentina to the semifinals of the 2014 World Cup, where he unfortunately missed a simple shot that could have given Argentina the title.

Since then, important international victories would elude him little by little, obtaining finals in the Copa America in 2015 and 2016, which the Chilean National Team ended up winning.

Unfortunately, the 2018 World Cup would be the last of his career, because in addition to suffering a decline in his physical condition, he was the target of countless jokes on social networks that affected his mental health. “I have suffered it in the first person, it has hurt me… Thank God I had a family behind me that has brought me forward, but there are people who do not get ahead,” he added. “Five seconds behind a computer ruins people. Anonymous handsome men are going to exist all their lives,” said the former Napoli scorer.

Also read: The First Global Agreement on the Labor Rights of Footballers Was Signed

A scary striker

Higuain will be remembered as a pure and simple goalscorer. In his first 5 years in Serie A, he scored 24, 29, 38, 32 and 23 goals. Rarely have you seen an attacker come into the league and tear it apart so easily. He had his flaws, but that's an amazing account in a major league.

In total, he finished his career with an absurd amount of 333 goals in all competitions, an enviable figure for any professional player.

Until the end of his career, this trend followed him, as Higuain had scored goals for four consecutive games with Inter Miami until announcing his retirement.

What remains of his career?

Higuain is a player whose career seems to have been easily forgotten, despite the contributions he made to the Argentine National Team and his notable achievements in Serie A and the Spanish League. Not everyone can be a three-time champion in Italy and Spain. But unfortunately, his career seems to have taken a nosedive thanks to public perception. Let it serve as a warning about the effect that networks can have on a player but, more than anything, on a person.