Phil Jagielka: Ex-England, Everton and Sheffield United defender retires from football at age of 41

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.

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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.

"I managed to stay in and around the England set up for close to a decade and somehow managed to get 40 caps.

"I scored a few goals along the way and thankfully captained the team.

"Playing for your country is an amazing achievement and it wasn't something I expected to do. I got released at 15 or 16 and managed to bounce back all the way to the top."

Asked what is next, Jagielka responded: "I always said that when I retired it was going to be golf, golf, golf! But I'm just going to take a bit of time out.

"Will I go into coaching or not? I don't know."

Jagielka: Warnock gave me my chance

Jagielka spent the first seven years of his career at Sheffield United and helped them earn promotion to the Premier League under Neil Warnock in 2006.

Warnock handed Jagielka his professional debut in May 2000 and he paid tribute to the manager's impact on his career.

He said: "It was the first time I was away from home as a young man trying to make a career and Neil Warnock was that guy who gave me an opportunity.

"I played a lot of games for Sheffield United and managed to get promoted with some great cup runs. My first two or three seasons in professional football, I couldn't have asked for anything better."

In his first spell at the Blades, Jagielka famously ended up in goal twice for lengthy periods - against Millwall in 2004 and Arsenal in 2006 - with Sheffield United winning both games.

'Everton means a hell of a lot to me'

Jagielka then joined Everton in a £4m deal in 2007 and spent 12 years at Goodison Park, captaining the club from 2013 until 2019.

He said of his time at Everton: "The club itself means a hell of a lot to me, and it will be nice now that I've retired to go back there and enjoy it a bit more than I would've done previously."

Jagielka revealed his standout moment at the Toffees was his winning penalty in the FA Cup semi-final shootout victory over Manchester United in 2009 at Wembley. But he unfortunately missed the final defeat to Chelsea after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament.

He said: "I scored the winning penalty that took us to Wembley but that's a little bit tarnished as my knee let me down with an ACL. It was a great moment but it was tinged with a little bit of sadness."

After his Everton contract expired in the summer of 2019, Jagielka rejoined Sheffield United following their promotion back to the Premier League.

"I didn't want to leave [Everton] and the way I left was a bit disappointing and frustrating," he said. "I wasn't playing as much and there was a rumour that there could've been another season.

"I then got put on for the last five or 10 minutes of a home game and I knew that was time up. Unfortunately no friends or family were there and there was no fairytale ending but I'll still look back at it as an amazing time there."

Following a two-year spell at Bramall Lane, Jagielka then spent the end of his playing days in the Championship. He had a five-month stint at Derby County from August 2021 under Wayne Rooney and then finished his career with a one-and-a-half-year spell at Stoke.

Jagielka's final professional appearance came at Vicarage Road as he started in Stoke's 2-0 defeat against Watford in May.

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