I turned down Man Utd and got banned for smoking on the BENCH – now I’m playing for a team run by the POLICE
BELGIUM star Radja Nainggolan has made an arresting new move … to a club run by Indonesia’s national POLICE.
The former Roma, Inter Milan and Cagliari midfielder was a free agent after leaving Italians SPAL in the summer.
Nainggolan has now signed a deal until the end of the season with Bhayangkara FC, who are bottom of Indonesia’s Liga 1.
Nicknamed the Guardians, they are owned by the Asian country’s police service – and many of his teammates are serving cops.
Antwerp-born Nainggolan’s estranged father, Marianus, is Indonesian, and his first name means “King” in the local language.
The 35-year-old said: “I didn’t hesitate for a moment when I saw how keen the club was to sign me.
“I was really starting to miss football, I still enjoy myself out on the pitch, and I’m very keen to do it in Indonesia.
“I’ve had a couple of great weeks out here, and I’m looking forward to learning more about one of my countries of origin.
“In the past months over 100 agents contacted me. But when push came to shove, it was very difficult for me to get any offers in writing.”
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Capped 30 times, Nainggolan has become the biggest-ever signing made by a club in Indonesia.
The football-mad south-east Asian country has only once reached a World Cup finals – in 1938, when known as the Dutch East Indies.
A Belgian title winner with Antwerp in 2022, Nainggolan will combine his playing career with promoting Indonesia as a travel destination.
His new Jakarta-based club plays at a 30,000-capacity stadium and goes by the full name Bhayangkara Presisi Indonesia FC.
Nainggolan is known for his career in which he enjoyed success in Italy’s Serie A.
He won the league in 2021 as part of Antonio Conte‘s Inter Milan team.
During his time at SPAL, he admitted that he was playing for “peanuts”.
His time at Antwerp was full of controversy as he first lost his licence for drink-driving and speeding, just ONE week into his Antwerp career.
And then he was suspended indefinitely for smoking an e-cigarette on the bench.
He ended up being forced to work with the youth team before leaving by mutual consent.
Nainggolan has previously claimed that he could down 20 shots the night before a match and still play the same.
His career could have taken a different path in 2017 as he rejected moves to Chelsea and Manchester United.
In 2018, he told ESPN FC. “I am the kind of person who above all needs to live well and be at a club which plays to win, or where I am happy with my life.
“In Italy, you live really well – I like the culture and way of life here.
“Chelsea offered me more money [while at Roma in 2017] and they are a big club, yes.
“But I’m interested in waking up in the morning in a place where I feel good and, at the age of 29, winning back all the respect I’d worked 12 years to earn in Italy was not for me.
“There are lots of components – lots to evaluate.
“I stayed in Italy, with Roma, because I wanted to end in the best way possible. There was Manchester too.
“There were many things that I was not interested in at all.
“Of course you are flattered by the interest, but this is how it is.”