Kevin-Prince Boateng will not return to Germany

Former Bundesliga midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng went back to his old home with AC Milan over the winter, and does not plan on coming back to Schalke or any other Bundesliga team. In an interview with the Sport-Informationsdienst (SID), he admitted he has "closed the door on Germany."

"I am not sad about it, just disappointed that everything that everything went so haywire in Schalke in the second year," said Boateng.

Boateng also mentioned his troubled relationship with Schalke captain Benedikt Howedes. "Just like in everything else, there are people in football who you don't particularly like. That was the case with us," he said.

That grievence was one of many he brought to light in his recently publsihed memoir, "Ich Prince Boateng. Mein Leben, Mein Spiel. Meine Abrechung." He also went into his suspension at the end of last season. Even though the club's director of sport, Horst Heldt, said there was a risk of legal consequences against Boateng for defaming the club, he claims no one at Schalke "got in touch wih [him] directly."

Boateng has also played for Hertha BSC, Borussia Dortmund, Tottenham Hotspur, Portsmouth and Genoa. He has made seven appearances since returning to AC Milan and scored once so far. The pressure is on in Milan to contend in Serie A, otherwise he could be off to another club in the summer. "Everyone thinks footballers have a great life and drive great cars, but sometimes you have to pull the veil away and look behind [it]," he said.

kd/dv (AFP, SID)