'I’m leaving Boca and football': Former Italy international Daniele De Rossi announces retirement

Veteran former Italy international Daniele De Rossi announced his retirement from football on Monday. He had joined Argentine giants Boca Juniors just six months ago. 

The footballer said he needed to return home for family reasons. “I need to go home. I’m leaving Boca and football,” the 36-year-old said according to AFP.

The former Italy and Roma midfielder played only seven matches for the Buenos Aires outfit and scored just once. 

“I’m leaving a club that has entered my heart, this sport, my passion.” De Rossi, who suffered several injuries during his time in Argentina, insisted that he has “no serious health problems” but merely felt “the need to be closer to my family, to my daughter. I miss them and they miss me”.

De Rossi spent 18 years at Roma before leaving the club at the end of last season.

He played 117 times for Italy from 2004-17 and won the World Cup in 2006.

“I’m going to continue working in football in Italy, I don’t know in what role,” he said, according to AFP.

“Here we’re very far away, it’s hard to connect with people (back home) on a day to day basis. I’m going to stay in Rome or cities close by.” 

Upon joining the Argentines he added: “I couldn’t end my career without playing for Boca.” He, however, said that his 14-year-old daughter was “the only one who stayed in Italy and she needs her father to be close by.

“She’s not in danger in any way but I need to be there.”

De Rossi’s signing was done by his former Roma teammate Nicolas Burdisso, who was the then Boca sporting director.