Inter Milan have cancelled the contract of troubled Brazil striker Adriano by mutual consent, the Serie A club said Friday.
The cancellation of the contract, originally due to run until next year, has been backdated to April 1, before Adriano failed to return from Brazil duty and then said he wanted a break from soccer.
Inter ''affectionately'' thanked Adriano for the ''eight years and 74 (Serie A) goals we have enjoyed together''.
Adriano, whose form has suffered after battles with depression and substance abuse, has said he wants to leave soccer and ''focus on other things for a while''.
In his a recent column in a Sao Paulo daily, Brazil 1970s legend Tostao speculated that Adriano wanted to stay in Brazil after seeing how Ronaldo had managed to get a new lease on his career life with Corinthians.
''He'll take a big pay cut, sure, and he'll have to bite the bullet and pay the contract get-out money, but he'll be where he wants to be, even if it is the shanty-town he grew up in,'' the former ace striker said.
Flamengo Marketing Director Joao Henrique Areias said ''as a player, right now, Adriano's worth nothing, zero. No one's going to pay a cent for him. But if he starts showing some of what made him great he can turn things round''.
Flamengo has been the club most closely linked to Adriano if and when the 27-year-old sorts himself out.
Inter coach Jose Mourinho has said he hopes Adriano's decision to quit the team would make him ''a happy man''.
Mourinho said: ''if not playing soccer makes him a happy man, fine. I still have not spoken to him but I'd like to know the reasoning behind his decision. We'll see''.
Inter ''did everything it could to help him before I arrived and after. It's now up to him to say what he wants. All I know is what I've read in the press''.
Adriano has scored some 175 goals in all competitions, mainly with Inter, since arriving in Italy from Flamengo in 2001.
With 41 Brazil caps and 27 goals to his credit, he was often considered as the long-term successor to Ronaldo.
