Million Manhoef of Stoke City has made public his unexpected plan to return to competitive combat after he turns thirty.

As he works to establish himself at Stoke, the winger has been talking to Algemeen Dagblad about his future professional goals.

The 22-year-old, who rose through the ranks at the Dutch club after a move in 2016, signed a €4 million contract with the Potters at the close of the January transfer window.

Since then, he has had a strong start to life at the club, scoring seven goals and dishing out two assists in 25 games.

Although he still has a lot of growth and development to go, he has already showed positive signs considering that he came from Vitesse with a record of 16 goals and 14 assists in 88 games.

Given that many of its players have advanced to the Premier League throughout the years, the Championship would be the ideal testing ground for him. In fact, a number of them joined Southampton and Ipswich Town this summer after being promoted.

However, Manhoef has stated that he has no intention of remaining in football after the age of thirty, so that will have to happen in the upcoming years.

When asked how long he would stay in football, he replied, “Eight to ten years.”

I’m going to stop till I’m thirty-five. That’s too long because I want to fulfill another desire. I was better at boxing than football until I was fourteen. I still occasionally do it with my brother over the summer. Keeping up and sparring a little bit to see if I can still do it.

“I intend to resume boxing after I turn thirty, but you never know exactly how things will work out.

“As a football player, I put a lot of effort into getting here. My other interest is fighting, and I plan to continue doing that. I’m putting in a lot of effort because I believe I can succeed in that. My goal is to win the world championship. I think it’s feasible. After that, I made the most of my two passions. How lovely is that?