Leaving Salernitana, which he joined last year and where his contract ran until June 2023, Ribéry chose to say stop, caught up in repeated injuries, including recurring knee pain, according to the sports daily. French L'Equipe.

In Italy, the newspaper Il Mattino reports that Ribéry should stay at Salernitana, where he earned 125,000 euros net per month, in a new role alongside the technical staff until 2024. He would like to start coaching training soon.

Franck Ribery in the Salernitana jersey on April 10, 2022 at the Olympic Stadium in Rome against AS Roma Filippo MONTEFORTE AFP / Archives

Contacted by AFP, Salernitana said it had no announcement to make "for the moment".

Ribéry's agents, for their part, could not be reached immediately.

Ribéry has not played since a 1-0 defeat against AS Roma on August 14.

This decision should end 22 years of professional career, the peak of which was the 2012-2013 season with Bayern Munich, author that year of the Championship-Cup-Champions League treble.

Franck Ribery (left) and Jerome Boateng celebrate the German championship title with Bayern Munich on May 11, 2013. That year, the French international achieved the Championship-Cup-Champions League treble and was named best player UEFA of the SeasonAFP PHOTO / CHRISTOF STACHER RESTRICTIONS / EMBARGO - DFL RULES TO LIMIT THE ONLINE USAGE DURING MATCH TIME TO 15 PICTURES PER MATCH.

IMAGE SEQUENCES TO SIMULATE VIDEO IS NOT ALLOWED AT ANY TIME.

FOR FURTHER QUERIES PLEASE CONTACT THE DFL DIRECTLY AT + 49 69 650050. CHRISTOF STACHE AFP/Archives

Ribéry had won the UEFA trophy for best player of the season and many observers even considered him worthy of the Ballon d'Or, which ultimately went to Cristiano Ronaldo, to his great disappointment.

The other great regret of his career is the absence of a trophy won with the Blues, whose winger with 81 caps (16 goals) will have known the bright side (2006 World Cup final) like the dark years, until Knysna's nightmare at the 2010 World Cup.

From there dates his disenchantment with the French public, reinforced the same year by the "Zahia" affair, when the justice system reproached him for priced relations with a minor prostitute.

He was finally released in 2014.

Franck Ribery on June 14, 2010 during training with the French team in Knysna during the World Cup in South Africa.

From this nightmare dates his disenchantment with the French public PATRICK HERTZOG AFP / Archives

Germany will have better appreciated the talent and the endearing and schoolboy personality of Ribéry, who chained clubs at the start of his career (Boulogne, Alès, Brest, Metz, Galatasaray) before hatching in Marseille and s flourish at Bayern Munich (2007-2019), with nine Bundesliga titles at stake.

After leaving Bavaria in 2019, Ribéry played extra time in Italy, first at Fiorentina (2019-2021).

Then, with Salernitana, he helped maintain the club in May 2022 before being overtaken by injuries.

© 2022 AFP