Former England, Everton and Sheffield United defender Phil Jagielka has retired from football at the age of 41. During his 23-year playing career, he made over 750 appearances for various clubs and earned 40 caps for the England national team. Reflecting on his career, Jagielka stated, “I don’t have many complaints about my career.”
Former England, Everton, and Sheffield United defender Phil Jagielka has retired from football at 41 years old.
Jagielka was released by Stoke at the end of last season and has decided to retire from his 23-year professional playing career.
Jagielka played in 750 matches for his clubs and earned 40 international caps with England from 2008 to 2016.
He scored three goals for England and participated in the Euro 2012 and 2014 World Cups.
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 started his career at Sheffield United and helped them get promoted to the Premier League in 2006.
Warnock gave Jagielka his professional debut in May 2000 and he thanked the manager for the impact he had 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 time at the Blades, Jagielka played as a goalkeeper twice – against Millwall in 2004 and Arsenal in 2006. Sheffield United won both matches.
Jagielka joined Everton in 2007 for £4m. He captained the club from 2013 to 2019, staying for a total of 12 years at Goodison Park.
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.”
Paul Jagielka’s most memorable moment at Everton was when he scored the winning penalty in the FA Cup semi-final shootout against Manchester United in 2009 at Wembley. However, he was unable to play in the final against Chelsea due to a knee injury.
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.”
Jagielka returned to Sheffield United after his Everton contract ended in the summer of 2019. Sheffield United had been promoted 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 his time at Bramall Lane, Jagielka moved to the Championship. He played for Derby County for a five-month period under Wayne Rooney starting from August 2021. Finally, he ended his career with a one-and-a-half-year spell at Stoke.
Jagielka’s last game was at Vicarage Road, where he played for Stoke in a 2-0 loss to Watford in May.
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