Miguel Britos has claimed he was offered another season of football with Watford, but that a lack of opportunities from then head coach Javi Gracia resulted in a lack of motivation and mental fatigue.

The Uruguayan had options to continue playing back in his home country as well as in England, but after a playing career stretching back close to 15 years, he decided it was instead time to call it a day.

Speaking to Uruguayan publication Ovacion, the former Watford defender said he wanted to return home to spend time with his family and that football had never been a passion for him.

“They have called me from everywhere," he said. "The two greats of Uruguay [Nacional and Penarol] were always looking for me and talking with my representative. They also called me from Paraguay, from Mexico and in Watford they wanted to renew me, but the truth is that it was something personal, that I decided to retire and do other things.

"I am a little atypical because I am not like most soccer players, that football is their passion. I always considered it my job. It is not my passion, I am not dying to play football. I already gave football a lot of years and got a little tired.

“I had been analyzing it for a couple of years. I wanted to go back to Uruguay because I was away for several years and I missed my family and my customs a lot, and it was getting harder and harder to go back there.

"Another reason is that I was already quite tired mentally, this year I did not feel very happy with my football because I played very little with the current coach, and I had two or three consecutive injuries, not serious, but I was out of the squad for two or three months. Then, I went to get up one day and I felt that I didn't feel like going to train, I was totally unmotivated. Something clicked and said ‘the time has come’.

"The coach did not behave very well with me in the sense of not giving me many minutes, because in the games he gave me I played well, I played in the FA Cup, but for the quarter-finals I was left out for nothing, I think he didn't give me the chances I deserved. When he arrived I was injured and that didn't help me to start well with him.”

Britos had originally planned to return home to Uruguay earlier and play for a club in the capital Montevideo, but a clause in his Watford contract meant he had to stay in England an extra year.

That final year was enough for the 34-year-old to decide that it was not only time to leave England behind, but the sport as well.

"With Watford I had signed for three years with the option of one more," he said. "When I had been there for three years, I had thought, if they did not use the option, to return to Uruguay and play for a couple of years in Montevideo. But the team made use of that option, I stayed one more year, it didn't go well for me and the truth is that it made me want to continue with my plans.

“I wanted to come to Uruguay and then see if to continue or not. In the end I decided to stay here in Maldonado [his hometown] also for my children, that if I went to Montevideo I had to take them to a school one or two years and then change them back. Thank God I did well in Europe and I don't need to play in Montevideo."

For now, Britos is spending his days catching up with his friends and family and enjoying life back in Uruguay, while also returning to one of his favourite hobbies.

"I am a fan of fishing - every day I go fishing, even today I went. It is a passion that comes from my family, from my father. I go everywhere to fish, on shore or on board. I go with my old man, my brother, my friends or alone."