'I feel sick without football,' says former Parma star Cassano

Antonio Cassano is sick. Not a cold, or anything. No, the Italian is ailing from a broken heart. 

Cassano, 32, is without a club after ending his contract with Parma in January, and says that he is now desperately missing the sport that was his entire world since he burst onto the scene as a 17-year-old with Bari.

"I feel sick without football," Cassano told the weekly Italian magazine Chi, as reported by The Guardian. "I miss it to death. I miss the atmosphere in the locker room, practice, messing with my team-mates. But, most of all, I miss the adrenaline rush (of the matches)."

Cassano, whose best season came in 2003-04 when he scored 18 goals with Roma, said that he would like to return to the sport in a front office role at some point.

"I’d still like to play but I see myself as a sporting director in the future, someone who deals directly with the players," said the Italian, who scored five goals this season for Parma before leaving the team. "I know they couldn’t trick me as I know all the tricks."

Technical director Antonio Cassano. What a world that would be.