Vieri Says "Good-Bye" to the World of Football

Christian Vieri is getting closer and closer to retirement. Just weeks after signing a new Italian deal - this time for Sampdoria - the Italian player decided that it's about time he stepped out of the football stage. And he made that decision after spending most of the last season on the hospital beds. More, he missed the chance to lift the World Cup trophy, after being forced of pulling out of the German competition due to knee injury.

Being one of football's globetrotters - he played for AC Milan, Inter, Juventus, Lazio, AS Monaco, Atletico Madrid, etc - Vieri decided to come back into the Serie A for the 2006/07 season. Still, his decision of stepping out of the sport was taken just a few weeks ago, when being into knee treatment in Milan.

For the moment, the player is still vacationing and did not announce his future club of his intentions for the future. Although he didn't make a statement regarding his intent to retire, lots of his friends have confirmed that his latest knee injury - from which he will completely recover in a few months - made him think about his future as a player.

In the meantime, Sampdoria is trying the best they can to convince "Bobo" Viari to change his mind about retiring. Still, their general director isn't too optimistic about it. Therefore, Beppe Marotta already signed a new striker - Cristiano Lucarelli of Livorno - to replace Vieri in their offensive line.

"We respect the human and professional aspects of this situation, but there are 25 players who are training for the next season. As the days pass, we realize that Vieri's return is more and more complicated", said Marotta yesterday. The Italian striker is yet to make a statement regarding his future inside football, but that's likely to happen in about 2 week time.