Antonio Cassano Retiring After Terminating Hellas Verona Contract

Antonio Cassano is once again retiring after leaving Hellas Verona, a week removed from a previous retirement announcement.

Fabrizio Romano of the Guardian shared news of the announcement, which comes on the heels of a whirlwind series of announcements regarding his future.

Cassano eventually shared a statement on his wife's Twitter account, clarifying his future, via Football Italia:

“Contrary to what appeared on my wife’s official profiles on social media, I would like to clarify the following.

"Carolina was wrong. After thinking and reflecting, in the end I decided: Antonio Cassano will not play football anymore.

“I apologise to the city of Verona, all the fans, President Maurizio Setti, sporting director Filippo Fusco and the Coach, plus the medical and technical staff.

“At the moment, my priority is to be with my children and wife.”

The striker recently said he was going to quit the game, before announcing last Tuesday that he had reversed his decision and would honour his contract with Hellas Verona for the upcoming term, per BBC Sport.

It was then reported by Sky Sport (h/t Football Italia) the 35-year-old had changed his mind yet again and was to walk away from football due to "high stress levels."

The veteran forward is unhappy as his family have not opted to move to Verona with him; as noted by BBC Sport, his family are based in Genoa, which is around 180 miles away from his new club.

The striker agreed a one-year contract with the newly promoted side earlier this month, having not played a professional match for more than a year.

Journalist George Rinaldi reacted to the latest twist in this curious saga:

Cassano, formerly of Roma, Real Madrid, AC Milan and Inter Milan is one of the most naturally gifted Italian footballers of his generation, although he never fully realised his potential.

Marco Luzzani/Getty Images

The forward is renowned for controversial behaviour and lapses in professionalism. "Anarchy is always just around the corner with Cassano," said his former manager at Roma and Madrid, Fabio Capello, per Glenn Moore of The Independent.

As noted by the Daily Telegraph, during his time at the Santiago Bernabeu, Cassano was regularly out of shape and was fined by the club for every gram overweight he was.

Nevertheless, Cassano won La Liga with Los Blancos in 2006-2007, as well as the Serie A title with AC Milan in 2010-2011. He also enjoyed a tremendous spell at Sampdoria, helping the club qualify for the UEFA Champions League qualifying round in the 2009-10 season.