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Joos Valgaeren is only 41 years of age, but his Celtic, and football, career seems way behind him now.

Working as a land surveyor in Belgium, the former Celtic defender has been speaking to Gazet van Antwerpen about his new career after retiring from football.

Valgaeren, who played for Celtic from 2000 to 2005 explains that for a couple of months after giving up playing, it was nice to wake up and wonder what to do, but then he needed a challenge so went and got a ‘proper’ job.

Still, Celtic follows the Belgian around, and when asked about the club, Valgaeren said: “I would not know where the cups and medals are, but I’ve always cherished Celtic shirts. The absolute highlight was actually the UEFA Cup final in 2003, which we lost to Jose Mourinho’s FC Porto.”

A Celtic fan recently worked on a project looking up former players and was surprised when he found out Valgaeren is living a normal life, with a normal job: “For the British, top footballers are heroes. And heroes do not work. Heroes drive giant sports cars. I was the only one from that team with a company car.”

It’s probably unlikely that Moussa Dembele, Scott Sinclair, or Valgaeren’s compatriot Dedryck Boyata will turn to careers like land surveying upon retirement, but the former Celtic player is as happy as he’s ever been, living with a purpose.

And presumably a wardrobe full of Celtic shirts.

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