Antonio Di Natale to hang his boots at the end of the season

Legendary Udinese striker Antonio Di Natale to retire at season end

Udinese’s legendary striker and former Italian international Antonio Di Natale has said that he will retire at the end of the season. The 36-year old announced his decision after Monday’s 3-1 home defeat to Hellas Verona.

He said: “I’ve already made the decision, I’ve talked about it with my family and my agent. The club will know soon, but I’ll stop playing in June.”

Di Natale has spent almost nine years with the Serie A club, going on to score 182 goals in 359 appearances and topping the Serie A goal-scoring charts on two occasions.

Di Natale has been regarded as the deadliest striker that Italy has produced for some time now, even though he spent most of his career playing for a club that enjoyed very little success overall.

The former Empoli frontman has been the top scorer of the Italian League in the 2009-10 and 2010-11 season, while also netting 11 goals in 42 outings for Italy, before retiring post the Euro’s in 2012.

When quizzed about the news; Udinese coach Francesco Guidolin said: “I don’t know what to say. I didn’t know.”