CELTIC midfielder Aaron Mooy has announced he is retiring from club and international football.
The 57 times-capped Australian World Cup star, who will be 33 in September, still had a year of his Hoops contract to run.
However, Mooy has now made the momentous decision to quit with 12 months on his deal, according to a report in the BBC.
There was speculation last week that the playmaker was considering his future, but he refused to confirm or deny stories from his homeland that he was thinking about hanging up his boots, as CQN reported.
CAPITAL PERFORMANCE…Aaron Mooy celebrates opening the scoring in Celtic’s 3-0 Scottish Cup win over Hearts at Tynecastle in March.
The former St Mirren, Huddersfield and Brighton star was said to be “thinking things over” last week, according to Australia media.
Mooy was reunited with his former international boss Ange Postecoglou at the champions last summer.
The clever middle-of-the-park operator, who had been released by Chinese outfit Shanghai Port, played his part in the Parkhead side’s historic treble although he completed the season on the injury list.
Postecoglou, of course, has already left Parkhead for Spurs and returning boss Brendan Rodgers has yet to assess his squad with Filipe Jota also on the brink of a sensational move to Saudi Arabia.
Mooy made 42 Celtic appearances, many from the bench, and scored seven goals, his first two coming in a 4-0 Premiership win over Hibs at Easter Road just before the turn of the year.
Before being struck down by injury, he had proved to be an invaluable part of the first-team squad, especially after skipper Callum McGregor was forced to miss 11 successive games after hirpling off during the 3-1 Champions League loss to RB Leipzig in Germany in October.
