Former England, Everton and Sheffield United defender Phil Jagielka has retired from football at the age of 41.
Jagielka was released by Championship side Stoke at the end of last season and has decided to call time on a 23-year professional playing career.
Jagielka made over 750 appearances at club level, while he won 40 caps for England between 2008 and 2016.
He scored three goals for England and was part of the Euro 2012 and 2014 World Cup squads.
He exclusively told Sky Sports: “As you can tell by the timing, I’ve tried to put myself out there for a little bit longer to see if anyone fancied giving me an opportunity to extend it, but they didn’t and I understand that.
“I’m super proud of myself to play at 40.
“If you’d have sat me down as a 15 or 16-year-old kid after being told I wasn’t good enough and then fast forward telling me I’d scored at 40, played at 40 and had the career I’ve had then I don’t think I can have too many complaints.”
Jagielka began the first seven years of his career at Sheffield United and helped them earn promotion to the Premier League under Neil Warnock in 2006.
He then joined Everton in a £4m deal in 2007 and spent 12 years at Goodison Park captaining the club from 2013.
After his Everton contract expired in the summer of 2019, Jagielka rejoined Sheffield United following their promotion back to the Premier League.
Following a two-year stint at Bramall Lane, Jagielka then spent the end of his playing days in the Championship. He had a five-month spell at Derby County from August 2021 under Wayne Rooney and then finished his career with a one-and-a-half-year stint at Stoke.
Jagielka’s final professional appearance came at Vicarage Road as he started in Stoke’s 2-0 defeat against Watford.