It was back in May 2016 that Antonio Cassano had played his last competitive game in Serie A, featuring for Sampdoria in a 3-0 defeat to cross-city rivals Genoa. Since then, the contentious forward has been embroiled in a series of controversies that has ultimately led to the 35-year-old catching the headlines in Italy and beyond, with a sensational double U-turn over his retirement this week.
After that Genoa derby, Blucerchiati owner Massimo Ferrero – himself no stranger to histrionics – publicly announced that the striker had no place in the side for 2016/17. Reports claimed that Cassano, who had signed for Real Madrid back in 2006, was banned from the dressing room and was excluded from the squad list on the club’s official website.
“I love Cassano dearly,” Ferrero admitted to Genoa-based TV station Primocanale. “I brought him to Samp with all of my strength, but Antonio's time here is done. I'd like to tell him to stop playing tug of war with me. Why doesn't he go play for teams that want him?”
At this point Sampdoria were desperate to move the player on but – even though Ferrero revealed he had offered to pay all the player’s wages if he joined a new side on loan – Cassano refused to go anywhere else.
A war-of-words in the press was to follow and not a single ball was kicked in the first half of the campaign. However, he eventually agreed to disagree with the Genoa supremo and his contract terminated by mutual consent in January 2017. Just as it seemed like his time was done, Cassano was given a lifeline by newly-promoted Hellas Verona. The Gialloblu were not only offering him a chance to reunite with his former strike partner Giampaolo Pazzini, but giving an opportunity to enjoy his final hurrah with some dignity.
On July 10, Verona officially announced the acquisition of the veteran, but it was to be just eight days later when Cassano stunned everyone. La Gazzetta dello Sport revealed that there would be a press conference later that afternoon in order for his retirement to be announced. If that decision wasn’t shocking enough, the forward then revealed to the astonished media that he had changed his mind, and was looking forward to “a fun season” with Verona.
“This morning I had a moment of weakness,” he admitted to reporters. “But then I thought about it again. If I had decided to go through with this gut-feeling it would have been a catastrophic choice and I’ve gone with my gut-feeling too many times in my career. I had a sudden feeling of missing my family and I got too emotional. But now I want to have a fantastic season. I’ve already lost seven kilos and I am fully motivated. Don’t be irritated by all this, in two games’ time we will forget all about it.”
The farce continued however, as Verona confirmed on Monday morning that Cassano would indeed leave the club. A denial of impending retirement via a statement issued on his wife’s Twitter account would follow, simply indicating that he didn’t “feel like continuing with Hellas Verona.”
July 10: signs for Verona.
July 18 (am): decides to retire.
July 18 (pm): decides not to retire.
July 24: terminates his contract.
However only doing what he has felt like during his entire career has meant that Cassano – nicknamed Fantantonio for his flair and creativity – has become more famous for his poor behaviour than realising the vast amount of potential that he so clearly possessed.
It was during his time with hometown club Bari that he was recognised as one of the brightest young talents in Serie A. The striker – blessed with skill, touch and technique – was sold to reigning champions Roma for a €30m fee back in 2001, the most expensive teenage signing ever at that time.
Although recognised as brilliant on the pitch, he started as he meant to go on during clashes with Coach Fabio Capello, the controversial incidents continuing through a subsequent failed spell with Real Madrid. Here, he wasted his golden opportunity. His visible weight gain was linked to his self-confessed sex addiction, a passage in his autobiography stating that a waiter friend would bring a woman to his room along with “three or four pastries” to eat after he had finished.
“His head isn’t right,” claimed Verona president Maurizio Setti upon his departure this week. Sadly for those who have followed the career of Antonio Cassano, it is not just recently that this has been the case.
