Serie A’s golden days are gone. The era of the early 90s, when the best players in the world dreamt of playing for the famed Rossoneri, Nerazzurri and Bianconeri shirts of AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus are long gone. Yet, there is one constant in the Serie A – the typical Italian frontman, playing well into his late 30s, and still scoring goals.
The famed Milan Lab and Juventus, in recent years, have made it an art of prolonging the careers of 35-year-olds considered past their prime. While football is famous for being incredibly ruthless when there is even a hint of a famous star’s powers waning, these strikers have resisted the passing of time.
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Here are 5 evergreen Italian strikers who will continue to plunder in the goals for more years to come.
1) Antonio Di Natale
Antonio Di Natale’s farewell match for Udinese turned out to be an almost perfect goodbye. After 12 years of service, Di Natale injured himself in training ahead of the game against Carpi, but came on with 12 minutes to go and scored a penalty for the Zebras. Even though Udinese lost the game, the crowd cheered the emotional 38-year-old as he bade farewell.
After 227 goals in all competitions for Udinese, many assumed Di Natale would be hanging up his boots. Yet, the lethal striker still feels he has plenty left in him – when asked about retirement ahead of the Carpi game, Tonio joked that he’d ask Francesco Totti’s permission to retire first. He later went on, “I'm old but I still feel good.”
By his own admission, Di Natale admitted he ‘cried like a baby’ when he cleared out his locker for Udinese, as the 12 years at the Stadio Friuli ‘flashed before his eyes.’ Yet, despite an injury hit campaign where he only scored twice, Di Natale still remains a prolific striker with a nose for goal, and could quite conceivably earn a late payday with in Australia, the Middle East or even the MLS.
Clearly, the world still needs more Toto Di Natale.
2) Fabio Quagliarella
Fabio Quagliarella was a YouTube star before the website even became popular. The Italian frontman’s penchant for scoring some absolute wongergoals earned him worldwide notoriety despite his rather modest scoring rate, with his breakout season coming with Sampdoria in 2006/07.
Clubs have constantly fought for the Naples-born striker's signature, as he has taken the pitch for the likes of Juventus, Napoli, Udinese, Torino and is now back with Sampdoria. Strangely, the Azzurri’s managers have never shown the same desire to Quagliarella play for Italy, with the striker often being benched despite some superb performances as a substitute.
The 33-year-old has been spectacularly unfortunate in his career at times, with exits from various clubs even finding strange reasons such as links to a Mafia family, cocaine allegations et al. Yet, the 33-year-old perseveres – he's returned to the club where he became a star, and can only hope that his spell at the Genovese club is a long one,unlike anything he’s ever experienced in the past.
Like a fine Neapoltian wine, Fabio has only gotten more exquisite with age. Here’s to more 40-yard screamers, incredible overhead kicks, cheeky lobs and the sneaky tap-in.
3) Antonio Cassano
Where do we even begin with Antonio Cassano? Considered by many to be one of the biggest wastes of natural footballing talent in the world, the tempestuous Italian striker still plods on for Sampdoria. The exciting Bari teenager who made mincemeat of Christian Panucci and Laurent Blanc and scored one of the most memorable Serie A goals ever is a shell of his former self.
Real Madrid and even giants of Italian football have such as Roma and both Milanese clubs have been seduced by Cassano's moments of genius on the pitch - indeed even at the age of 34, there are flashes of impish genius that remind us why we fell in love with the beautiful game. Yet, just 2 goals in 24 games for Sampdoria give us pause – as maybe Cassano’s powers are on the wane.
However, in an age where multiple Italian clubs have ‘eccentric’ owners who are willing to take a gamble, Cassano will always have a club willing to sign him, as his name carries enough star power to still see him add to his 113 goals in Serie A.
4) Alberto Gilardino
You wouldn't expect Alberto Gilardino to be a World Cup Champion, a Champions League winner and the holder of an Olympic medal. In fact, most people would do a double take upon hearing that ‘Gila' is in the list of the top 10 all time Serie A goalscorers, while only being bettered by Francesco Totti in the active players with the most Serie A goals.
Gilardino is the embodiment of why the most ardent Serie A fans love Italian football. Nowhere else in the world can a player with his modest skill-set rise to the pinnacle of world football based on a supreme adherence to tactics coached into him by Italian coaches, resulting in a nose for goal that has reaped rewards in Serie A 188 times.
Level with Italian legend Alessandro del Piero in the goalscoring charts, Empoli are the latest club to offer Gilardino the chance to score 17 goals and equal the number of Serie A goals scored by Roberto Baggio (205). Having saved Palermo from relegation with a crucial goal on the last day of the 2015/16 season, I wouldn't bet against Gilardino still continuing for many, many years to come.
5) Francesco Totti
Ensconced by Rome, even the Vatican's most premier citizen, the Pope, might have been of the opinion that AS Roma dithering about offering Francesco Totti a new contract last season bordered on blasphemy. Yet, Il re di Roma responded in the most regal manner possible. After an explosive interview where he demanded that he be afforded more respect, given his legacy with the club, Totti proceeded to perform last minute miracles, often single-handedly winning matches for I Lupi.
Famed AS Roma fan and commentator Carlos Zampa was reduced to tears when Totti overturned a 2-1 deficit to Torino and made it 3-2 in the final minutes. It is difficult to put into words the link between the club and Totti, who has worn its shirt for 23 years – even 248 goals in Roma's colours aren't enough to describe what a legend Totti is to fans of the Giallorossi.
Fresh off earning a shiny new contract, Totti can still plunder in goals with aplomb, although he is unlikely to overtake Silvio Piola as the all time Serie A leading goalscorer. However, just like he's taught us repeatedly, dreams can come true. After all, legends ‘never’ retire.
