Craig Bellamy reveals he nearly retired in 2003 and turned down Man Utd interest

Craig Bellamy has admitted he almost retired in 2003 – and spurned Manchester United's interest as he felt he could not justify a move due to his injury problems.

An emotional Bellamy – who went on to play for Celtic, Blackburn, Liverpool, West Ham, Manchester City and Cardiff before finally retiring as a player in 2014 – opened up on his battle with knee tendonitis.

He revealed that he had come away from a pre-season friendly during a tournament in Malaysia believing he would have to hang up his boots at the age of just 23.

Newcastle played in the inaugural FA Premier League Asia Cup, finishing second behind Chelsea, and it was after that clash that Bellamy was left assessing his future in the game.

Speaking on Sky Sports on Monday, Bellamy said: 'We were in Malaysia, Sky covered a tournament in Malaysia. It was us, Newcastle, Chelsea and a Malaysian team. I was struggling with tendonitis at the time in both knees and I remember we played Birmingham, and Chelsea in the final.

'We lost on penalties. After that, I went back to the hotel and did not sleep that night. Couldn't sleep, tossing and turning. I woke up for breakfast. I had breakfast on my own at about six in the morning.

'I sat next to a guy from Hong Kong and we were just having a conversation about football and I just said, "I want it to be over. I don't want to play anymore. I'm in too much pain." I can't play to the level I want to, when Newcastle have invested in me heavily to play well.

'I didn't feel I could justify it. I didn't feel I was in a position. Manchester United were interested in me as well. They were interested in me that summer, I didn't feel I could go there because I was in no position to compete with the players they had. I just felt tortured.

'God, this wasn't what I expected my football career to be like. I'm in this much pain where I didn't want to sprint. I certainly didn't want to accelerate because it hurt too much.

'Twisting and turning, I didn't want to train hard the day before because it would take it out of me in the game, my knees would be too sore. Having to deal with that was the toughest time during my career.

'Injuries, it was sort of a relief when you had an operation because it was like, "Now I can do something about it, press the reset button, concentrate on my rehab without the pressure of playing.

'"Being free again, hopefully getting rid of the pain and hopefully doing the rehab right and giving myself the time to recover."'

Sportsmail revealed in 2019 that Bellamy had been accused of bullying young players at Cardiff and he stepped down from his role as Under 18s coach at the Welsh side.

The 40-year-old, also discussed the fact that he has been battling with depression in the last few years and has been taking medication to combat it.

He continued: 'Very few people know this, I’ve never really spoke about. I don’t feel it’s anyone’s business. I’m quite private, people only see bits I allow you to see.

'Private life is very private to me, I enjoy that side of it. But for the last three or four years I’ve been diagnosed with depression, can’t get away from that.

'Ridiculous highs, massive lows. I’ve been medicated for three years and this is the first time I’ve ever spoken about it.

'Injuries didn’t help, self-doubt, people telling me you’re never going to be the same. Proving to yourself, came back to being a kid, I’d missed out on my childhood, I said, "This is going to work".

'This was my demeanour, I’ve trained harder than everyone, it left me… I’m really proud of what I was able to achieve, my ability wasn’t… I wasn’t good enough. For me to get to where I did was a huge achievement.

'I got the best out of everything I had. People see the arguing, I knew what I was doing.

'If I’m going to compete with (Marcel) Desailly, (Jamie) Carragher, (Tony) Adams, I had to get them wanting to kick me more than focus on their own job.

'Then I can get a half a yard, if he can lose discipline for one second. That’s what I fed off, didn’t enjoy it much, gave myself an edge.'