Barcelona defender Frank de Boer, who faces a disciplinary decision from UEFA after testing positive for the banned substance nandrolone, has said he fears for his future at Barcelona.
"Now I am starting to worry more than before," the Dutch captain was quoted as saying in the Spanish media today. "I am beginning to think that maybe I will be playing my last game when we face Valladolid this weekend."
The 31-year-old defender's contract with Barcelona is due to expire at the end of next season, and players who have tested positive in similar cases have got bans of between six months and two years.
Dutch international colleague Edgar Davids, who also tested positive for nandrolone in early March, has been given an open-ended ban by FIFA and Italian authorities.
Both players have repeatedly protested their innocence in the face of the doping charges. De Boer said he would wait until June 14th, which is when the UEFA disciplinary committee is due to discuss the case, before deciding what action he would take.
"I think I will be in for a long-drawn out fight. A number of investigators are searching for the source of the nandrolone, but the doctors have told me that it is very difficult to locate it and they can see little hope of finding an answer.
"The situation is getting more and more difficult to accept for me because I know I am innocent, but I don't want to get too depressed because I still believe I have three or four years of football left in me.
"If I did get a ban of, say, two years I wouldn't know what to do. I haven't even dared think about it," he said.
Reuters
