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Jonny Evans makes playing admission after an emotional night back at Windsor Park

Jonny Evans may only have just called time on his playing career but he admitted he is already missing it.

The 37-year-old brought the curtain down on his glittering career of nearly 20 years at the end of last season with an emotional goodbye at Manchester United.

Evans had already announced his international retirement last year after winning 107 caps for Northern Ireland.

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He was a special guest at Windsor Park last week for the friendly win over Iceland, where he and Steven Davis were presented with portraits in recognition of their service.

Evans, who won 14 major honours during his career, said he does miss playing.

"It's a little bit different now having to watch it. You still wish you were out there playing," he said.

"I haven't retired that long. When I retired from international football I thought it might prolong my club career but I picked up a few injuries.

"I think it was the right decision at the right time for me to call it a day, but I miss it.

"I'm not sure what I'll do next, I'm going to take a bit of time as I don't feel I'm in a rush to do anything."

Evans was part of the Northern Ireland team which played in the European Championship finals back in 2016.

The big defender sees similarities between that squad and the current hopefuls.

"When you have Michael O'Neill in charge it gives everyone that little bit of hope," he said.

"He's taken a team to a major championship before so if there's anyone you'd want in charge it's him.

"When I look at this team it reminds me of the previous team. There's good players in the team, Isaac Price is scoring goals, and it's good to see Trai [Hume] and Daniel [Ballard] get promoted to the Premier League.

"I'm excited and I think you'll see them progress together over the next couple of years."

And his return to Windsor Park stirred up so many emotions for Evans.

"It was a special evening and coming back brings back so many special memories," he said.

"You get a bit of a buzz again, you can feel it coming into the stadium, it brings back so many emotions."

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