Giggs hints at retirement

Veteran midfielder Ryan Giggs has conceded that this season could be his last for Manchester United.

Giggs, who recently turned 37, is on the brink of making his 850th senior appearance for the club and has regularly viewed December as decision time regarding his future.

The Welshman will mark the 20th anniversary of his United debut next March, but having just made 10 appearances this season due to a hamstring injury, he admits it is by no means certain he will make it that far.

Stop-start

Giggs told The Daily Telegraph: "For me, where I'm at right now is the thought that I've had a stop-start season, so I just want to get back playing.

"I'm not going to play every week, but I want a consistent run over a couple of months to see where I'm at," he said.

"But it gets closer every year, the thinking that, 'This could be my last season'.

"I'm closer this season than I was last season, but that's probably because I haven't been playing regularly.

"If I have a run in the team and play well, then I will probably want to carry on. If I don't, then I'll have to assess it.

"But I think I have a relationship with the manager where, if I really wasn't enjoying my football or I didn't think I was being effective, I could just sit down with him and we would both be honest to each other and say, 'Right, that's it'."

Scary

Giggs, who is the only player to have played and scored in every single season of the Premier League since its inception, admits that he has yet to grasp the thought of life after playing.

"I've been doing this for 20 years, so it will be strange and weird when it stops," he said.

"It's a scary thought, but not one that I am too worried about, although I've no doubt that I will be bored.

"I'll have to find something to do because I get bored when I have a couple of days off. What I'll do, I just don't know.

"You speak to players who have finished playing and they just say that you have to play as long as you can and enjoy it. That's what I'm doing at the moment."