Former Manchester United and England goalkeeper Ben Foster has confirmed his retirement after revealing that he turned down the chance to sign for Newcastle last week.
The 39-year-old has been without a club since the end of last season when he left Watford following the Hornets' relegation from the Premier League.
Newcastle were on the hunt for cover for goalkeeper Nick Pope after understudy Karl Darlow suffered an injury in training.
On his podcast The Fozcast, Foster told how he was contacted by agent Richard Lee who told him that the Magpies were keen to sign him 'ASAP' and that they had offered a contract with 'everything you wanted'.
However, the goalkeeper revealed that he rejected the move because he did not want to move away from his family.
Having played for Birmingham City and West Bromwich Albion, Foster is based in the Midlands and commuted to Watford during his four-year stay at the Hertfordshire club.
'If I go up there [to Newcastle], I might still be able to put a bit of a face on and show, but I won't be me,' he said on his podcast. 'I've got to be happy, I've got to be comfortable and I won't be able to do that if I'm that far away from my family.'
Newcastle eventually signed former Liverpool shot-stopper Loris Karius as cover between the sticks.
Foster calls time on his playing career after making 536 club appearances. He won the League Cup at Manchester United and Birmingham and twice secured promotion to the Premier League in two separate spells at Watford.
No player in Premier League history has played more minutes than Foster, who clocked up 34,959 in the English top-flight.
The 39-year-old also earned eight England caps between 2007 and 2014, making one appearance at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
In recent years, Foster has found himself in the spotlight after starting his 'Cycling GK' YouTube channel and filming 'matchday experiences' on a GoPro. The channel currently has 1.18million subscribers.
It did not go down well with Watford chairman Scott Duxbury, who fined Foster and has since slammed the videos as 'utterly wrong'.
The goalkeeper also revealed that the Premier League threatened him with legal action if he used any footage from matches.