It’s fair to say Antonio Cassano is, well, a bit of a character.

When he isn’t boasting about his love life and plans to eat his way to obesity upon retirement, the Italian is a well-rounded and revered striker. He has played for AS Roma, Real Madrid and AC Milan across his 18-year career, after all.

Nevertheless, the 35-year-old never truly reached his full potential after gaining traction as an up and coming star in Serie A.

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As soon as his career in Spain deteriorated, however, Cassano descended into something of a journeyman. In the last nine years he has starred for no less than six different clubs – all of which in his homeland of Italy.

And while controversy tailed him closely upon all those spells, the forward might just have outdone himself this week. As far as retirement plans go, Cassano has executed a quite spectacular end to his career.

So, stick with us on this. On July 10, the 35-year-old signed for last year’s Serie B runners up – Hellas Verona – in what he dubbed ‘the last miracle of his career.’

Well, said miracle lasted all of eight days when Cassano came out and spectacularly announced that he was retiring. He had even gone as far as organising a press conference to close the curtains in typically dramatic fashion.

Fast forward four hours, though, and he reversed his retirement to re-commit his future to Verona. However, Cassano changed his mind for a third time – staggeringly preferring to retire once again.

The Italian cited distance from his family as the reason but talk about a fiasco, a simply unprecedented one at that too.

Unsurprisingly, it has absolutely infuriated the powers that be at Hellas Verona who have essentially signed, let go, re-signed and re-released to the same player in the past fortnight.

Speaking to ANSA, Verona president – Maurizio Setti – didn’t hold back, stating: “This guy's head isn't right.

“Even though he's very good physically and athletically. He'll leave.

“Professionally, you can't accuse him of doing anything wrong. Evidently, he can't remain serene and clearheaded in a group and wants to stay at home.

“There's an up and a down with him, he talks and then he's silent. It's a shame because he was doing everything well in a professional sense.”

Moral of the story being that, in Setti’s opinion, Cassano’s fitness is spot on but there are questions to be asked in the upstairs department. You can’t exactly fault Italian presidents for speaking their mind.

Then again, on Cassano’s current form, maybe he’ll be signed for a third time this week. Crazy times.

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