Former Aston Villa winger announces retirement aged 36

Former Aston Villa winger Robert Snodgrass has announced his retirement on X at the age of 36.

The Scotsman, who made 28 caps for his country, has decided to call time on his playing career.

Snodgrass joined Aston Villa in 2017 on loan from West Ham United and he spent a whole season with the Midlands outfit in the Championship, making 43 appearances in all competitions and chipping in with seven goals and 14 assists.

The Glasgow-born man started out at Livingston and moved down to England as a youngster. He then went on to have spells at Leeds United, Norwich City, Hull City, West Ham, West Brom and Luton Town before heading back home last year to join Hearts.

Snodgrass helped Villa reach the play-off final during his time at Villa Park but they were beaten in the final at Wembley by Fulham before he went back to the London Stadium at the expiration of his deal.

After deciding to retire, he has posted on social media: "A little lad from the east end of Glasgow got to live his childhood dream for 20 years playing at 10 great clubs meeting amazing people and building relationships with staff and people around those clubs, getting to represent my country, playing over 600+ games scoring over 100+goals and 100+ assist is something I wouldn’t of never imagined doing, then getting told in 2014 I might never play football again after a career ending knee injury to then come back and play another 250+ games is something I am grateful for.

"Big Thank you to my family and friends and my agents for supporting me and being there, I wouldn’t have played for so long if I didn’t have the support of you all."