Francesco Flachi was the real leader of Sampdoria, having scored over a hundred goals for the club. Everything was fine, but when the player turned 32, he was disqualified for using cocaine for two years. Francesco had the willpower to return to football, but not enough to quit drugs. In 2010, cocaine was again found in his blood and was disqualified for twelve years due to a relapse!
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What other footballers have ruined their careers due to drug use? In this article, we have collected several such cases.
Harry O’Connor
He was called the most promising striker in Scotland, so the player was bought by Lokomotiv and offered him a very good salary, and in Moscow the player was blown away. The money just fell on the head of the simple guy O’Connor, and Harry did not cope. Soon he moved to the English “Birmingham”, where he abruptly stopped even getting into the application. The fans thought the player had passed or was injured. However, it turned out that he was disqualified for two months for using cocaine, and the club and the football player himself decided to hide this fact from the public. After his return, O’Connor did not play in the Premier League. He went to Barnsley, and then returned to his native Hibernian, and there was another scandal.
Police arrested the footballer for possession of cocaine and sentenced him to 200 hours of community service. At the Hibernian they showed him the door, and O’Connor went to the Tom free of charge. He was only 29 years old, but on the field he was a real ballast, so even from “Tom” he was kicked out.
Adrian Mutu
The Chelsea player was considered one of the most promising footballers in the world. The “aristocrats” paid 20 million euros for this guy, and Adrian looked more interesting in the team than Robben, and in September 2004, cocaine was found in the player’s blood. The Football Federation of England did not greatly muddy the waters and took pity on Mutu, excommunicating him from football for only seven months. However, Roman Abramovich was adamant. He terminated the contract with the forward and filed a lawsuit against the Romanian for reimbursement of the transfer costs. As a result, the court ordered Adrian to pay Chelsea more than 17 million euros, which, however, Adrian has not yet done, and transferred almost all of his property to relatives and friends.
As for his football career, Mutu returned to Italy, did not establish himself in Juventus, played well for Fiorentina and other weaker teams and somehow quietly ended his career, although he promised to become one of the best football players in the world.