Former England goalkeeper Ben Foster has announced his retirement from football at the age of 39.
Foster has been without a club since he was released by Watford in June following their relegation from the Premier League last season.
Newcastle United were interested in signing the shot-stopper on a short-term deal to provide cover for Nick Pope, with backup goalkeeper Karl Darlow ruled out for the rest of this year with an ankle injury.
However, Foster has revealed that he turned down the chance to move to St James' Park and believes now is the right time to hang up his gloves.
Speaking on his podcast, The Cycling GK, Foster said: "Deep down I didn't want to do it [turn down Newcastle].
It's time to say goodbye 👍😘https://t.co/lIDefeueeN pic.twitter.com/2Pgza5VEzi
— Ben Foster (@BenFoster) September 15, 2022
"It sounds mad and it's such a hard thing to explain because there'll be millions of people up and down the country that will say 'you've just been offered a contract, a really good contract, by the richest team in the world to go and be second-choice goalkeeper and be part of something'.
"But I just didn't want to do it, I had this deep feeling, and the wrench of it was that I'd have to move away from home, that would kill me.
"If I'm in an apartment in Newcastle by myself, away from my family, I don't think people can understand. That's hard to do, especially at the age I am and with everything else I've got going on.
"I know for a fact if I'd have gone there I'd have had an amazing time, the lads would have been absolutely brilliant and I'd have buzzed off the stadium, the fans, all that kind of stuff, but the overriding sinking feeling was 'I don't want to do this.'"
Newcastle have since swiftly moved on from their failed pursuit of Foster and announced the arrival of former Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius on an initial contract until January.
© Reuters
Born in Warwickshire, Foster turned professional with Stoke City but he never made a single senior appearance for the club.
The goalkeeper went on loan to five different clubs including Wrexham, where he was noticed by Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson who recruited the then 22-year-old back in 2005.
Foster was a second-choice stopper for the majority of his five-year spell at Old Trafford and made 23 appearances in all competitions as well as winning the EFL Cup in 2008-09 and 2009-10.
Foster then spent one season at Birmingham City and won the EFL Cup in 2010-11 before joining West Bromwich Albion where he made 223 appearances across a seven-year spell.
The eight-cap England international ended his career with Watford, where he previously spent two separate spells on loan during his early days at Man United, and helped the Hornets secure promotion to the Premier League on two occasions.
Across his 22-year career, Foster made a total of 519 appearances and he ends his career having played more Premier League minutes (34,959) than any other player in the division's history.
