Philipp Lahm could have played on. Maybe not until 40, as Bayern Munich coach Carlo Ancelotti believed, but certainly for another season, maybe in a reduced role, maybe in the bigger games, maybe in defensive midfield.
A few more campaigns in a less demanding league would have been an option, too, a spell of semi-retirement on which many of his contemporaries have embarked, in order to secure one last big pay check. Lahm, however, wasn't interested.
Not many players voluntarily walk away from a €12 million wage packet one year early but, then again, few players are honest enough with themselves to look at their own game objectively and draw conclusions.