Scott Parker will be 36 next month - but his Fulham boss says the former England player is every bit as good as an ex-Atletico Madrid player back in the 1990s at the same age.
Slavisa Jokanovic remembers when he played alongside Donato Gama da Silva - or Donato, as everyone knew the former Spain international at Deportivo La Coruna, and before that in Madrid.
The man born in Brazil went on to strut his stuff until he reached the ripe old age of 41. Although by then, he had switched from central midfield to central defender.
As a result, Joka can no see no reason why Parker should stop.
He said: “I played with Donato for a few years and won the Spanish league with him - he was a very good player at this age.
“At the beginning of this season I used one player who is 16 years old and Scott Parker who is 36.
“I don’t know when the end of his career will come but like the rest of the team he does important things for us at the beginning of the season.
“I’m not thinking about like ‘rest up rather than play football tomorrow’ – he’s actually in a very good eleven and I hope is going to be in the eleven in the period in front of us.”
Parker was expected to retire at the end of the last campaign after a season of injury niggles that restricted his appearances to 19 Championship starts.
However, he has featured in six out of seven games so far after signing a new deal and agreeing to face up to his 19th campaign in either Football or Premier League.
