Gabriel Zakuani hopes he can prolong his playing career a little further by ruling himself out of playing international football.

The 32-year-old defender has played internationally for the Democratic Republic of Congo for over a decade but won’t be involved in their Africa Cup of Nations qualifier next week, against Liberia.

He’s told the DR Congo national coach that his commitments are now solely with the Gills, for the foreseeable future.

Zakuani said: “At the moment it is on the backburner and I have just pulled out. I want to focus on doing well in the league and that’s the important thing for me.

“I will miss it because I have done it consistently for 13 years, but that is a long time and I have achieved as much as I wanted to achieve with the national team. It is more now for me to try and play as long as possible with the age I am, to try and stay fit, because the flights and all that does take a lot out of you.

“It was a tough decision to make because I had done it for a long time, I enjoyed leading them, I was captain of my country, so it was a big decision to make. It is the qualifiers for the African Nations and I have played in that before, so it is not something new for me and I am not as hungry as I probably would have been.”

Having the captain’s armband at Gillingham this season helped to make up his decision.

“I feel like I have a bigger role to play here,” he said.

“With missing games and coming back, it is not ideal for anyone, the manager as well. Having the armband did make it easier to make that decision.”

Gillingham are set to be without Josh Parker for next weekend's game against Wimbledon, however, as he has been called up to play for Antigua & Barbuda in their qualifier against St Lucia, on the Friday. Youth player TJ Bramble has also been selected.

Read more from the Gills skipper in this Thursday's Medway Messenger newspaper