Enock Mwepu retires from heart issue: The 'special' role Leeds United boss Marsch played in his career

The midfielder and his club announced the news this morning with a pair of statements.

A Brighton spokesperson said: “Enock Mwepu has been forced to end his playing career following the diagnosis of a hereditary heart condition.

“The condition, which can worsen over time, would put Enock at an extremely high risk of suffering a potentially fatal cardiac event, if he were to continue playing competitive football.”

Mwepu, 24, joined Brighton in July 2021 from RB Salzburg. Captain of the Zambian national team, it was on a flight to join up with his international team-mates that he took ill, prompting time in hospital in Mali and cardiac tests upon his return to Brighton.

He said: “A boy from a small Zambian township called Chambishi has some news to share.

“He stood strong to follow his dream of playing football at the highest level, and by the grace of God he lived his dream by reaching the Premier League.

“Some dreams, however, come to an end so it is with sadness that I announce the need to hang up my boots because of the medical advice I have received. This is, however, not the end of my involvement with football. I plan to stay involved in some capacity.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that supported me in my football journey, including my wife and family, my agent 12MAN, the Zambian FA, all my previous clubs, team-mates and coaches and especially everyone at Brighton & Hove Albion.”

Mwepu has previously spoken of the influence that Whites head coach Marsch had on his career, during their time together at Salzburg.

The pair won the Austrian Bundesliga and Austrian Cup in the 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons.

“He was very important in my career,” Mwepu told the Daily Mail earlier this year.

"Always calling me in his office telling me: 'This is what you need to work on, to improve on.' That was really special to me.'”

Mwepu also put on record his wish for Marsch to keep Leeds in the Premier League last season and although their plans for a Salzburg reunion dinner with Leicester City’s Patson Daka, Wolves' Hwang Hee-chan and Takumi Minamino of Liverpool did not work out, he planned to contact the American to wish him well in a relegation fight the Whites eventually won.

His time at Salzburg also saw him play alongside current Whites men Brenden Aaronson and Rasmus Kristensen, who he welcomed to the Premier League on social media in the summer, dubbing the Danish right-back a ‘machine.’