It has not been the best times for the world of football recently as a number of world class players, who were still active in the last stages of their careers, decided to quit the game this year.
And the list seems to be ever-growing as the fans brace themselves to the loss of some of the best players the sport has ever seen.
One such player who is now set to call it quits at the end of the season is German legend, Philip Lahm.
The 33-year old versatile defender is easily one of the best players to have ever played in his position and in his time in Germany, he has won everything possible, making him one of the most decorated players in the history of the sport.
Born in Munich, Lahm was a youth product of the Bayern academy and went on to make his senior debut in 2002, after a couple of seasons and 63 games for the junior side at the Allianz Arena.
Ever since, barring a couple of years on loan to VFB Stuttgart, Lahm, has been a mainstay at Bayern and has grown in stature by the year.
He replaced Mark van Bommel as the skipper of the senior side back in 2011 and took the club to the Champions League final a year later, which he failed to win.
However, he did not take long to taste greater success when he lead the German national side to an emphatic and dominating victory at the World Cup in 2014 in Brazil.
With all this glory by his side, Lahm has now decided to step down from the sport and will play his last professional game at the end of the current season.
Speaking to the media today, Lahm revealed that he, at the moment, is not capable of continuing the level of performances beyond the current season and revealed that he has decided to quit.
“I can continue with my leadership style, giving my best every day, in every training, until the end of the season. I can keep doing it this season but not beyond,” he said.
He also went on to say that he has been pondering over this decision for over a year and that he has finally taken the decision to end his career as a footballer.
“I’ve been considering it for more than the past year,” he said.
“You have to keep testing yourself, you have to keep asking yourself ‘how is it’, day by day, week by week on the training pitch, what’s the feeling you have,” he added.
The World Cup triumph remains his biggest achievement but Lahm has also won seven Bundesliga titles with the club, as well as the Champions League and for his sake, let’s hope that the German outfit go all the way this season.