Edinson Cavani has been told to retire by an Argentinian legend after struggling at Boca Juniors.
Cavani, 39, was booed on his first start since September as Boca drew 0-0 with Racing Club on Friday – and then excluded for their cup clash against Gimnasia Chivilcoy on Monday.
The former Manchester United striker signed for Boca in August 2023 and is in the club’s leadership group but the goals are drying up.
In the 2025 season he managed five goals – a quarter of his 2024 haul – and in 2026 he has only managed two games due to an injury lay-off.
Oscar Ruggeri, who won the 1986 World Cup with Argentina, as well as a league title at Boca, insists that Cavani should hang up his boots.
‘He has to stop playing,’ he said, via Marca.
Edinson Cavani has been told to retire by an Argentinian hero – but the 39-year-old is still going
A 1986 World Cup winner, Oscar Ruggeri, says that Cavani’s condition is ‘hurtful’ to watch
‘It’s a sin that this star is insulted in that way [booed] with the immense career he has.
‘I don’t know him, we met two or three times, but it hurts me to see him.
‘It’s tough to play in Argentina these days at 40. For me, he’s not making the decision [to retire] because he wants to keep trying to turn things around and leave.’
Cavani has had to contend with constant injury struggles going into his late 30s.
Since February 2023, the forward has accumulated 13 injuries according to his record on Transfermarkt, missing 36 games – not far off a full season.
Most recently, he has been blighted by pin in his lower back, though he made his return off the bench against Platens this month.
In December, he announced his retirement from football, calling time on a 20-year career which has seen him score 458 goals for club and country.
But the Uruguayan has evidently not stuck to that resolution in the new year. He may well have won 24 trophies, with most of those coming in a prolific stint at Paris Saint-Germain, but Cavani is still hungry for more.
Ruggeri has been banging for drum for Cavani to retire on more than one occasion.
In January he said: ‘I know he wants to turn the situation around and wants to do well, that he came to Boca and succeeded. But he has to seriously think about what he can do because his body is struggling.
Cavani, who played for Manchester United from 2020 to 2022, has suffered lots of injuries
‘He plays a little while, maybe misses a goal, and I see some people laughing, others teasing him, and I think he is so great that he has to make the decision himself, not us. He has to make the decision that if his body can’t take it anymore, this is as far as he goes.
‘The career he had, what more is it going to give him? It’s saying this is as far as he goes. He is not in debt. He came, tried to do it, but physically he couldn’t.
‘But when these things happen, notice that every time he’s about to start, something else happens. These are signals that football is giving him, that you have to make the most difficult decision we football players have, which is to say this is as far as I go.’
His old PSG team-mate Zlatan Ibrahimovic played until he was 41. Cavani, aged 39, seemingly wants to keep balling for now.
