Stoke City striker Michael Owen has announced he will end his playing career at the end of the season.

Stoke City striker Michael Owen has announced he will end his playing career at the end of the season.

“It is with an immense amount of pride that I am announcing my intention to retire from professional football at the end of this season,” he wrote in a statement on his official website.

“I have been very fortunate in that my career has taken me on a journey I could only have dreamed of.”

The Stoke striker is also the last Englishman to win the Ballon d’Or in 2001, when he became the first England player since Kevin Keegan to win the prestigious trophy.

Owen is England’s fourth-highest goalscorer of all time and has 220 goals in his club career.