Aston Villa and former England defender Anita Asante has announced she will retire at the end of the season, and says her post-playing ambition is to one day manage Arsenal.

Asante, who will close the book on a stellar career that began almost 20 years ago, turns 37 this month and rolled back the years at the weekend to put in a heroic performance for Villa against Manchester United in the WSL.

The veteran defender started out with Arsenal as a teenager, and went on to join Chelsea in 2008 before spending a number of years abroad in the United States and Sweden.

She returned to England in 2018 to re-join Chelsea and signed for Villa ahead of the club’s first ever top flight season to provide invaluable experience on and off the pitch.

“On the eve of my 37th birthday, it’s time to announce my retirement from football at the end of the season!” Asante posted on social media. “I want to thank my family, team-mates, managers, fans and all the clubs I have played for. To say it’s been a privilege is an understatement. It’s been a dream.”

Asante made her England debut in 2004, getting selected for Euro 2005 on home soil the following year. She went to two further European Championships with the Lionesses in 2009 and 2013, as well as World Cups in 2007 and 2011, plus the 2012 Olympics with Great Britain.

„It’s been an unbelievable journey,“ Asante told BBC Sport. „I’m so proud to have been a part of all that and to have shared it with so many amazing players and coaches. I’ve learnt so much from them over the years.

„It was a difficult decision to make, but I feel very lucky that I’ve been able to decide and be in control of what I want to do in this current point in my life.

„I want to be coaching, I want to be supporting and inspiring the next generation of players and hopefully imparting some of my knowledge and experience, so that’s where I want to be,“ Asante added.

„Ultimately my dream is to one day manage my childhood club. It would be a great thing to one day get there and be coaching Arsenal.“

„Some people forget that women’s football has been growing in this country for many years and it’s because of people like Anita Asante that we now are in a position to excel and live our dreams as professional footballers,“ Chelsea forward Fran Kirby wrote on Twitter. „Thank you Neets, congratulations on an amazing career.“

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