Buenos Aires, Feb. 3 : Former Argentina international midfielder Lucas Biglia has announced his retirement from football after a career spanning two decades.

The 38-year-old, who had been without a club since parting ways with Turkey's Basaksehir last July, cited family reasons for his decision.

"It was the wish of my children and my wife to spend more time together," Biglia told Argentina's TyC Sports on Friday.

"Now it's time to enjoy other things that I couldn't do when I was playing and dedicate time to them ," he added.

Biglia represented seven clubs throughout his professional career, including Italian giants Lazio and AC Milan.

The holding midfielder was capped 58 times for Argentina and was a part of the Albiceleste's World Cup squads in 2014 and 2018.

Apart from a desire to spend time with family, Biglia raised the prospect of pursuing a future coaching career and he already started a course to acquire his badges in Italy.

"It would be nice to experience that [coaching] side. But I want to be prepared. Everything related to coaching interests me but we'll see what happens," he added.

/IANS