Italian Football News

Cassano looks to stay at Sampodoria

Antonio Cassano had a difficult start to his return season to Italian football, after an equally difficult spell in Spain. For over a month and a half he was plagued by two separate injuries which saw him play little for the Genoa club.

Sampdoria, though, claim to be happy with the striker and his performance when he has actually been on the pitch. He's scored a meagre two goals this season - as compared to the 8 scored by his team-mate Claudio Belluci (who returned this season to Serie-A football after a number of seasons captaining Bologna FC in Serie B).

Cassano, talking to the media had the following to say: "I'm extremely happy about this period at Sampdoria where everything has gone well, apart from the month and a half that I lost thanks to the double injury that I had. It's largely thanks to Marotta, who believed in me. I trusted him and vice-versa, and I'll always thank him".

Cassano is still regarded by many as an outstanding talent, and has a hefty asking price to stay at the Genoa club, so perhaps it's no surprise that he's so effusive in his praise for the club.

Cassano came to the club this season on loan from Real Madrid (where he was reportedly frozen out of the team by current England coach Fabio Capello). The deal saw Sampdoria picking up the estimated 1.3million wage packet for the striker, but they'll have to fork out 5.5million if he's to sign up with them going forward into next season.

Cassano's temperament has been reasonably stable, perhaps because he's played so little, but he did have one 'episode' during the season where he stormed off the pitch without giving a reason to stunned officials or fellow team-mates.