There are men who hang up their shoes with a farewell match, sharing for the last time the emotions experienced on the green rectangle. And there are those who do it old-fashioned, in a romantic way, with a letter that touches the heart. Ersid Pllumbaj, a striker born in 1989 of Albanian origins but now in all respects from Novara, has raised the white flag: he will no longer be able to play football due to a rare disease that has haunted him since summer 2019.
For nearly three years he has been battling with Dunbar’s syndrome which affects an arterial branch called the celiac tripod. His last match was on February 16, 2020, a few days before the pandemic began. But that was no longer the real Pllumbaj: he played in Legnano and entered the direct match at the top just a few minutes from the end, then lost 3-2 at Pro Sesto. Then the darkness: the lockdown, other specialist visits, surgery and the vain attempts to return to the field. «A cold mind is analyzed – he confides – and I cannot blame anyone for everything that has happened to me. I believed it, until the end I hoped to make it. The operation a year ago could have represented the turning point but it did not happen, despite continuous checks by the best specialists ».
Pllumbaj has made football a great passion. Even when he fought in the provincial fields of Gattinara and Omegna, he struck by his hunger, his desire to emerge. That desire that led him to train the day after a match: «I never felt tired – he remembers – I did sports every day. Now, on the other hand, I train in the gym, but I admit that I’m afraid of making any effort after what I’ve been through ».
It all started in the summer of 2019 during the pre-season retreat with Crema. A few months earlier he had won the D series with the Venetians of Arzignano Valchiampo and was one of the prized pieces on the market. In those days he felt the first symptoms. And, albeit with completely different physical problems, his parable recalls that of Marco Van Basten, the striker of his favorite team: Milan. Pllumbaj collaborates in the family business with his sister and brother-in-law (they manage the bar and games room), but he already knows that he will not be able to permanently leave a sport that has given him so much: “I have always wanted to help the youngest to choose the most right and therefore I want to try to become a Fifa agent. I’d like to look for talents in the area and enhance them ». Furthermore, between the end of May and the beginning of June he will become Leone’s father. A not accidental name for someone like him who gave everything he could to run after a ball.