'I thought of quitting' – Former Arsenal forward Yaya Sanogo slams Middlesbrough for 'halting my career' at just 27 and reveals how he has turned his career around

Sanogo was once considered one of France's most promising strikers due to his impressive displays for Auxerre, resulting in him joining Arsenal at the age of 20. However, he was unable to live up to the hype, and became a bit of a journeyman, taking in spells at Crystal Palace, Charlton, Ajax, Toulouse and Huddersfield. Then, after a year and a half without a club, he resumed his career in Armenia with Urartu, but was released after further injuries limited him to just 17 appearances before he was eventually snapped up by his current team, Chinese second-tier team Qingdao Red Lions.

The attacker struggled with several injury problems from the beginning of his career that hindered his development and resulted in a few failed transfers. He revealed that he was close to joining Middlesbrough in 2020, only for the club to pull out of the deal.

"It was at the time of Covid-19, after my three seasons at Toulouse. I spent 14 days in quarantine without being able to meet anyone. Once this period was over, I did the visit," he told Eurosport. "They supposedly detected a problem with my shoulder that required an operation and three months of rehabilitation, according to them. So my contract… It was serious, it was hard. I went to see a shoulder specialist once I got home. They told me that I had nothing at all and that they had put it on the wrong way. That stopped me in my tracks, for the other clubs, I was injured. The worst part of all this was that the press wrote that I had failed the medical. So, the other clubs that were interested believed it and that stopped me completely. I was 27 at the time."

The turmoil resulted in Sanogo considering putting an end to his career. Asked if he considered giving up, he said: "Yes, of course, we are human after all. I sometimes told myself that it was dead. When I was 16, I was told that the attack of the French team, a few years later, would be [Karim] Benzema and Sanogo. But, I am a believer, I could not stop, I wanted to go to the end of the story. There were times when it was very very hard. At Auxerre, I thought about it but I never gave up. It made me grow on the field and in my life. Those periods of time when I could not play, when I was injured, between us, how many would have stopped?"

Sanogo is now playing in the Chinese League One and has managed to avoid injuries since joining the Red Lions. Having scored six goals in just 14 matches, the 31-year-old will hope to remain injury free before he decides on his next step. His contract runs until November, and he is open to a new adventure, saying: "There are a few clubs that are interested during this transfer window. I'm 31, it's true that I've had a few struggles, but I feel as fresh as a daisy! Today, I want to have fun, enjoy myself on the pitch. The project that will be the most interesting, on a sporting and financial level, I'm going for it. In Europe, Asia or elsewhere, I'm really open to all proposals."