Former Italy striker Antonio Cassano has announced he will continue his career with Hellas Verona after having a change of heart.
On Tuesday morning, the Italian football rumour mill was abuzz with rumours that the colourful 35-year old striker was set to announce his retirment a mere eight days after arriving at his new club.
This speculation intensified after Hellas announced on their official Twitter account that they were postponing the announcement of new signing Thomas Heurtaux and that Cassano would face the media instead.
They wrote: "Change of plans: @THeurtaux--75 presentation postponed to tomorrow (12). Today #Cassano will meet the press at 16 #HVFC."
But Cassano instead told the press conference that he intends to remain with the club after reversing his decision.
Cassano admitted that his "gut-feeling" told him to retire but he soon realised this would be a "catastrophic choice".
He furthermore said that he had listened to his gut feeling too often in his career.
He said: "It was a tough time this morning. I was tired and I had a meeting with the director and said I wanted to take a break.
"My choice is to keep playing. I had a moment of weakness.
"I often think with my gut, this time I decided with my head, thanks to my wife, the director and (Hellas boss Fabio) Pecchia.
"The decision I made with my gut was a crazy thing, I want to have a great season with this team."
Cassano began his career with Bari in 1999, afterwards playing for spells with Roma, Real Madrid, Sampdoria, AC Milan, Inter Milan and Parma.
He made 39 caps for Italy between 2003 and 2014.
The undoubted star of Italy's otherwise ill-fated Euro 2004 campaign, Cassano was ultimately omitted from Marcello Lippi's 2006 World Cup winning squad, the result of both a frustrating season at Real Madrid and Lippi's longstanding mistrust of the striker.
He returned to the Italian fold whenever Marcello Lippi was safely out of the national dugout, thriving under the management of Roberto Donadoni and Cesare Prandelli.
He scored the opening goal in Italy's 2-0 victory over Ireland in Euro 2012.
