At just twenty-three years old, Juan Gonzalez, a player for Italian club Lecce, announced his definitive retirement from football after being away from the pitch for an entire season due to a congenital heart defect.

The decision came based on the advice of doctors, who warned the player against returning to participate in matches, given the real risk to his life if he exerted himself physically.

Gonzalez was a Spanish midfielder, born on February 1, 2002, in Barcelona, and he grew up in the academies of both Cornella and La Masia (Barcelona) before moving to Lecce in 2021.

He began his professional career with Lecce's first team starting from the 2022–23 season, where he played 64 matches in Serie A, scoring two goals and providing several assists.

Experts described him as having a high tactical performance; he was converted during his training in Barcelona from a midfielder to a center-back, then returned to the midfield at Lecce, where he excelled in building play from the back with precise and central passes, alongside his dribbling skills and positional sense.