Chelsea cult hero, 48, now a BUILDER after major career change following four-year health battle
Former Chelsea star Jesper Gronkjaer has swapped Blues matches for bricks and mortar … by going into the building trade.
The Denmark winger spent four years at Stamford Bridge following a £7.8million move from Ajax in 2000.
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Jesper Gronkjaer played 88 league games for Chelsea in a four-year spell and scored seven goalsCredit: Bongarts/Getty Images
Like most ex-players he wen’t into tv and worked for over a decade before deciding he’d had enoughCredit: Getty Images
Gronkjaer scored 11 goals in 119 games before leaving for a six-month spell with Birmingham City.
He retired after leaving home-country club FC Copenhagen in 2011, and went on to work as a TV pundit for 12 years.
Gronkjaer opened up about his four-year battle with depression and stress in 2021 that saw him off work for nine months.
But he said he is now in good shape, thanks in part to his new choice of career.
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The 48-year-old said: “I’m feeling very good right now. I live at Aarhus in Denmark, I have a good life, and I am far removed from the world of football.
“I wanted to try something new, and now I am involved in building and renovating apartments.
“It is completely different from what I did before. It is something I thought about doing during the final years of my playing career.
“But then I went to work as a TV pundit instead.
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“I’m enjoying the free time I get now. It wasn’t a problem when I was a player, but now my days aren’t planned down to the last minute.
“As a footballer you are always in a very nice bubble, but you end up being isolated.
“I now live a bit more in the background, and can do other things. I go skiing, play padel and travel – all things I couldn’t do while I played football.”
Gronkjaer previewed Chelsea‘s Champions League clash with Ajax for the Dutch club’s website.
He added: “I was both happy and sad when I left to join Chelsea. I liked Amsterdam, and Ajax were my first club outside Denmark.
“London was completely different. The biggest difference was that I had been among Ajax’s oldest players.
“But when I got to Chelsea I was once again the youngest. It was a good step in my development.”
He was an important player for Chelsea pre-AbramovichCredit: Getty Images
