Ashley Young has brought the curtain down on a glittering 23-year professional career, announcing that he will retire from football at the end of the current season.

The 40-year-old, who has spent this campaign at Championship promotion-chasers Ipswich Town, made the announcement on social media in an emotional post that traced his journey from a boy with a dream to one of English football’s most decorated servants.

“From Sefton Road to Vicarage Road to Villa Park to Wembley to Old Trafford to San Siro back to Villa Park to Goodison Park and finally to Portman Road it’s been some journey that I only dreamt of as a boy,” he wrote, adding that Saturday’s match against QPR could be the final game of his professional career.

Young has been sidelined since January with a persistent hip problem that has restricted his involvement in Ipswich’s promotion push, but the veteran remains fully focused on helping the club return to the Premier League.

Young’s career reads like a tour of English football’s most storied institutions. He broke through at Watford, playing a key role in their 2006 Championship play-off promotion, before joining Aston Villa in a £8 million move the following year where he won the PFA Young Player of the Year award in 2009 and earned his first England call-up.

His move to Manchester United in 2011 for around £17 million marked the peak years of his career, winning the Premier League, FA Cup and Europa League, and eventually being appointed club captain in 2019.

He later won Serie A with Inter Milan in 2021 before returning to Villa Park for a second spell, then joining Everton and finally Ipswich. In all, Young earned 39 caps for England, featuring at Euro 2012 and the 2018 World Cup where the Three Lions reached the semi-finals.

Tributes poured in swiftly following the announcement. Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna, who also worked with Young at Manchester United, described it as an honour to have managed him, praising his professionalism and the impact he has had on the dressing room throughout the season. Former Everton teammate James Tarkowski simply wrote “Legend” in response to Young’s post, a sentiment echoed by many across the game.

With Sky Sports punditry duties already on his CV this season, the next chapter appears to be taking shape but first, Young has one final mission: helping Ipswich seal promotion on Saturday.