Antonio Cassano SampdoriaGetty

Serie A veteran Cassano retires and blames wife for Twitter mix-up

Antonio Cassano has seemingly closed the book on his career after an on-again, off-again retirement saga. 

The 35-year-old signed for Hellas Verona on July 10 but said he'd be retiring just eight days later, only to reverse that decision within a matter of hours.

On Monday, another set of contradictory messages emerged from the Twitter account of Cassano's wife. 

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First, Cassano said he would be leaving Hellas but not retiring. 

"I'm not going to leave football, I simply don't feel I can continue with Hellas Verona..." Cassano said in a statement that was tweeted by his wife, Carolina Marcialis.

"Physically I'm really good, as I've shown in the last 15 days of training, but mentally I don't feel stimulated to continue at this club!"

Just as he did earlier in July, Cassano quickly reversed course and through another statement tweeted by his wife, called time on his career. 

"My wife Carolina miswrote this. The truth is that I'm retiring," Cassano said. 

"I won't play football anymore. I apologise to everyone at Hellas Verona club - chairman, coach, players. I'm 35 now, and my priority is to stay closer to my wife and kids."

Cassano has spent time with Roma, Inter, Milan and Real Madrid among other clubs in his career, and scored for Italy at Euro 2004 and Euro 2012.

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