Former Brentford and Fulham man announces retirement at the age of 29

Ex-Brentford and Fulham defender Alfie Mawson has announced his retirement from the game. He has called time on his playing career at the age of 29 due to injury problems.

He spent the first-half of this season playing in League One with Wycombe Wanderers. The former England youth international made 20 appearances for the Chairboys under Gareth Ainsworth.

Mawson started his senior career at Brentford after they snapped him up as a youngster from Reading. He went on to play once for the Bees’ first-team and was loaned out to the likes of Maidenhead United, Luton Town and Welling United to gain experience.

He left Griffin Park in 2014 and went on to have spells at Barnsley and Swansea City before Fulham landed him. The Hillingdon-born man played 46 times for the Cottagers before he was released at the end of last term after their promotion to the Premier League.

Mawson has now hung up his boots and has told Wycombe’s club website: “It might come as a shock to some people, but to me, it’s been coming for a while. After speaking to the specialists, to my family and to the gaffer, I’ve come to the difficult decision to retire. I had some time off around Christmas after feeling some pain in my knee and the pain hasn’t gone away. I went for a scan and unfortunately the damage was done.

“It’s devastating, but it’s how life goes. I was nearly in this situation in the summer, and I’d fallen out of love with the game. I think if I’d retired then, I wouldn’t have wanted to even watch football again. But coming back here has made me fall back in love with it. It reminds me of when I was first here, being a kid and loving what I was doing. I’ve done what I wanted to achieve, and to go out with a win and a clean sheet in my last game was a nice way to end it.”