Ex-Burnley midfielder Steven Defour to retire at end of season

Steven Defour, Burnley's former record signing, has announced he will retire at the end of the season.

Defour, who joined Burnley for £8million in August 2016 and made 58 appearances for the Clarets, will call time on his playing career after battling injury.

"So this is it, at the end of the season I hang my boots on the hook," Defour wrote on Twitter.

"Due to circumstances you sometimes have to make choices faster than you intended. The daily physical pain made it impossible to deliver the performance I expect from myself.

"The mental resilience required to keep returning after large and small injuries continued to decline. Then this choice is unfortunately an easy one."

Defour began his senior career at Genk and also played for Porto, Anderlecht, Burnley – whom he left in September 2019 – and Royal Antwerp.

He returned to Mechelen, his hometown club he left as a 16-year-old to join Genk, in October but injury has limited him to only six starts in the Belgian League this season.

Defour made 52 appearances for Belgium and was part of the Red Devils' 2014 World Cup squad in Brazil.