"He wanted to keep playing," the elder Solsjær told Aftenposten.no after news broke that Ole Gunnar Solskjær was giving up his dream of another comeback after more knee surgery earlier this year.
"This is sad for us, and for him, that he has to quit," Øyvind Solskjær said after his son flew from his hometown of Kristiansund, on Norway's west coast, back to Manchester Tuesday morning.
Ole Gunnar Solskjær, age 34, and another veteran Norwegian sports star, downhill skier Kjetil Andre Aamodt, had both spoken at a special event in Kristiansund over the weekend. He told his family then that he'd be announcing his retirement this week.
"He'd hoped to recover 100 percent, but now something has happened in his knee that makes it impossible for him to continue," Øyvind Solskjær told Aftenposten.no.
He said his son, long a star player for Manchester United and Norway's national soccer squad, had been prepared that there could be complications from his latest round of knee surgery.
"But he believed himself that he still had a lot to offer on the football field, if he'd just recover," said Øyvind Solskjær.
He said he thinks his son will be remembered by his fans for his loyalty to Manchester United and his presentation on the field. He called his son's career with the club "an eventful period, for him and for us. Both he and the club have given us many good soccer experiences."
He didn't expect that his son would be moving back home to Norway, though, and that he instead would remain tied to Manchester United in a professional capacity. The club later confirmed that Ole Gunnar Solskjær will now work as a coach and ambassador for Manchester United.
