KEEPING THE BALL ROLLING

His son claims he’s depressed and can’t walk properly, but football legend Pelé says his health woes are normal for his age

- DENNIS CAVERNELIS

IT’S not for nothing that he’s known as one of the greatest footballers the world has ever seen. At the tender age of 17 he scored his first world cup victory – and soon he was breaking record after record. Eventually he was named athlete of the century by the International Olympic Committee in 1999.

But time has taken its toll on Pelé. Now 79, the frail Brazilian is almost unrecognisable as soccer’s former fleet- footed superstar striker.

He’s a recluse mired deep in depression who can’t walk without help and refuses to leave his home, if the eldest of his seven children is to be believed.

Pelé suffered complications after hip surgery and never properly regained his mobility, his son Edinho (49) told Brazil’s Globo Esporte.

“He’s quite fragile,” Edinho says. “He underwent a hip replacement and did not have adequate, ideal rehabilitation. So he has this mobility problem, which has caused a kind of depression.”

Pelé won three world cups for Brazil during his star-studded 19-year career. “Imagine, he’s the king, he was always such an imposing figure, and today he can no longer walk properly,” Edinho says.

But the football icon quickly pointed out he’s anything but depressed. “I’m good,” Pelé says in response to his son’s claims. “I continue to accept my physical limitations in the best possible way, but I intend to keep the ball rolling.

“I have good days and bad days. That is normal for people of my age. I’m not afraid. I’m determined, confident in what I do.”

HIS physical decline has been gradual. In Russia, at the 2018 world cup, the Brazilian icon was spotted in a wheelchair and later getting around with a walking frame.

Without these aids his dad can’t get around, Edinho says.