Former Azzurri striker Christian Vieri, once the most expensive player in the world, appears to have called it quits after a Europe-trotting career including spells at Lazio, Inter, Juventus, Atletico Madrid and Monaco.
The Bologna-born, Australian-raised Vieri, 35, cleared out his locker at Atalanta earlier this week and has now rescinded his contract with the Bergamo club, by mutual agreement.
Atalanta watchers say the ex-star, who suffered from depression after failing to make Italy's 2006 World Cup-winning squad, threw in the towel after being booed at a friendly match Saturday.
''I'm not playing here any more,'' the ex-Inter star reportedly told teammates who tried to dissuade him from leaving.
He left a short message on the club website thanking the management for the ''correctness'' it had shown him this season and on two previous stints.
Atalanta Chairman Alessandro Ruggeri said he was ''sorry for what happened, as I believe all those who love soccer are''.
He said he did not know whether Vieri, who will be 36 in July, would seek another club.
Vieri made his name at Atalanta as a 22-year-old before making the first of his lucrative moves, to Juventus in 1995.
He scored seven goals in 19 Serie A games for Atalanta in the 1995-96 season, catching the eye of the Serie A champs, who snapped him up for the following campaign.
But he was never accepted back by a section of Atalanta's 'ultra' hard-core fans.
The tall frontman failed to revive his glory days at Atalanta, featuring in only nine games this season and scoring only twice.
This compared to the more than 100 goals he scored at the peak of his career for Inter from 1999-2005.
This last year has been Vieri's second attempt to prolong his career at Bergamo. He played for Atalanta in 2006-2007, taking the minimum wage, before moving to Fiorentina for a year in 2007-2008.
WORLD RECORD.
Vieri's 1999 move from Lazio to Inter Milan set a then world transfer record of $49 million - three million more than Inter paid Real Madrid for Ronaldo three years later.
He is still the fourth-dearest player of all time, behind Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo and Hernan Crespo.
Vieri's career dipped ahead of Germany 2006 because of poor form and a string of injuries but coach Marcello Lippi always indicated a place was available if he returned to match fitness.
Vieri left Inter on a free transfer at the end of the 2004-2005 season and moved to cross-town rivals AC Milan.
But he could not break into the Milan first team and joined French top-flight club Monaco in order to stake a claim for a place in Italy's World Cup squad.
This plan was scuppered by a nasty knee injury he suffered in his eighth game at Monaco.
He subsequently considered giving up the game altogether and recently revealed he had suffered from depression after his disappointment.
Vieri is one of the most travelled footballers in the modern game, having played for 12 different clubs.
His longest spell at any one club was his six years at Inter, where he scored 122 goals in all competitions and notched up 24 goals in 23 league matches in 2002-03.
Vieri's tough, silent image was reflected by media nicknames including ''the monster,'' ''the mute'' and ''the IceMan'' - but he had an appetite for the high life and was frequently snapped in glamorous night spots.
He showed another side of his personality in 1998, weeping openly when Lazio narrowly failed to win the scudetto.
Vieri also let the tears flow when Italy was controversially knocked out of the 2002 World Cup by upstart South Korea.
Vieri won the Cup Winners Cup with Lazio after moving from Atletico Madrid, where he netted 24 goals in 24 league games in the 1997-1998 season.
The previous year, at Juve, he won the scudetto, the European Supercup and the Intercontinental Cup.
The powerful striker - named one of the world's top 125 players ever by Brazil legend Pele - earned 49 caps and scored 23 goals for the Azzurri.
