FORMER MANCHESTER City and England goalkeeper Joe Hart will retire at the end of the season, Celtic announced on Thursday.

Hart will be 37 when his three-year contract with the Scottish Premiership champions expires.

He won 75 England caps and played 348 times for Manchester City, winning two Premier League titles.

Hart also played for several other clubs including Torino, Burnley and Tottenham before joining Celtic in 2021.

“Joe has enjoyed a phenomenal career and I know will be huge miss to the game when he finally retires from playing football in the summer,” said Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers.

“For all he has done in football, Joe deserves huge praise and congratulations. He has been such a brilliant asset to Celtic of course and the wider game at the highest levels, domestically and internationally.

“But more than that, he is a tremendous man, just brilliant to work with, someone who I know has been a great team-mate to so many throughout his career and a player who never gives anything but his absolute best.”

Elsewhere, World Cup winner Toni Kroos announced his return to the German national team on Thursday ahead of Euro 2024 on home soil.

Kroos, 34, will be eligible for selection in the upcoming March international friendlies against France and the Netherlands.

“Hey folks, short and sweet, I’ll be playing for Germany again from March,” Kroos said in an Instagram post.

“Why? Because I was asked by the coach and I’m up for it.

“I’m sure that much more is possible with the team at the European Championship than most people think right now.”

The Real Madrid midfielder, who has 106 caps for Germany, stepped down from international duty after the Euro 2020 last-16 elimination at the hands of eventual finalists England.

The four-time world champions have struggled in recent years, having been dumped out at the group stage in the past two World Cups.

Germany have won just three of their 11 matches since the 2022 Qatar World Cup, a run which led to Hansi Flick becoming the first Germany coach to be sacked.

His replacement Julian Nagelsmann, who has a contract until the end of Euro 2024, has won just one of four games since taking over, including defeats by Turkey and Austria.

Kroos has missed just two out of a possible 32 matches in La Liga and the Champions League for Real Madrid this season amid an ongoing injury crisis for the Spanish league leaders.

“His pass rate is the same as 10 years ago. He’s always top class,” Real coach Carlo Ancelotti said of Kroos earlier this month.

Kroos said at the same press conference he “had not made a decision” on a possible international return, joking the call was so difficult he wanted someone else to make it for him.

Nagelsmann had previously described the idea of a Kroos comeback as “an interesting thought”.

Germany play a friendly against France in Lyon on March 23, then host the Netherlands four days later in Frankfurt.

Kroos would likely fit into a talented but inexperienced Germany midfield, with Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz both aged just 20.

The hosts will open the tournament against Scotland in Munich on June 14, before also facing Hungary in Stuttgart on June 19 and Switzerland in Frankfurt on June 23 in Group A.

– © AFP 2024