Former Leeds United striker Mirco Antenucci has conceded that it is likely to be the last season of his playing career but he is keen to stay in football once he hangs up his boots.
The 40-year-old striker is still plying his trade in the third tier of Italian football at SPAL and has scored three times in four league appearances at the start of the season.
Antenucci spent two years at Leeds almost a decade back when the team were a midtable Championship team and scored 19 times in 80 appearances for the club.
He was a player from the Massimo Cellino era of Leeds when the club signed a few Italian players but left the Whites to move to SPAL in 2016.
However, at the ripe age of 40, the striker is now fully aware that he is set to wind down his career over the course of the ongoing season.
The former Leeds United star admitted that he considered retirement earlier
Antenucci admitted that as far as he is concerned, this is likely to be his last season and he is set to hang up his boots at the end of the ongoing campaign.
He stressed that in the summer he wanted to play one more year as last season was a tough one for him and he wanted to go out on a high.
The Italian conceded that he could have retired earlier given the injury problems he has had, but the striker is happy that he decided to do one more year.
The striker has plans for what he wants to do after hanging up his boots and admitted that he is keen to continue in football beyond his retirement.
“In my head, there is this idea that this is my last season on the pitch”, Antenucci told Tuttosport (via Tutto Mercato).
“In the summer I was asked whether or not to continue and I wanted to do another year because the last one was certainly not positive.
“There was a moment in which I thought about the possibility of saying enough, due to problems with my Achilles tendon, but I chose to continue and from a personal point of view, the choice is proving me right.
“However, I want to stay in football and I wanted to complete my university studies because I started when I was very young and I was sorry to have had to leave.”
