Usain Bolt still planning to pursue career as a footballer when he recovers from injury

Usain Bolt still has the ambition of becoming a professional footballer following his retirement from athletics.

Bolt raced for the final time at the World Athletics Championships in London on Saturday (12 August) as part of the four-man Jamaica team in the 4x100 relay. But it was a race that ended in heartbreak for the 30-year-old who was struck down by injury after being handed the baton, collapsing 30m from the finishing line in agony on his final appearance on the track.

Despite not ending things the way he would have envisioned, Bolt insists he has no plans to reverse his decision to call time on his career, bidding farewell to the sport with one final lap of honour at the London Stadium on Sunday with 19 global titles to his name.

But the eight-time Olympic gold medallist has long flirted with the idea of swapping sports, revealing in November 2016 he had "been genuinely talking to people" in the game about making it happen while also sharing plans to travel to train with Bundesliga giants Borussia Dortmund.

Any plans to pursue that will be put on ice while he recovers from the hamstring injury suffered on Saturday night but the Jamaican superstar insists he will still chase that dream now the curtain has come down on an extraordinary career on the track.

"Well I've always said I want to play football, soccer as you guys know it because it is something I think I'll be good at," Bolt said. "But right now, after pulling my hamstring, I'm not really worried about that at this moment."

Bolt is a huge Manchester United fan and in the past has claimed to have discussed the idea of a trial with the club with Sir Alex Ferguson, having visited the club's Carrington training ground following his triple success at London 2012.

The world record holder still hopes to one day play for the team he supports, commenting in an interview with the Guardian last year: "For me, if I could get to play for Manchester United, that would be like a dream come true. Yes, that would be epic."