Italian footballer ditches the game for a music career despite lucrative offer

Maverick 30-year-old Italian footballer, Dani Osvaldo has quit football for a career in music. This is despite the fact he was offered a huge deadline day contract of £2.1million a year by Italian side, Chievo Verona. His career will be best remembered for a series of controversial incidents.

His last club was Boca Juniors, but Osvaldo was sacked by the club after manager Guillermo Barros caught him smoking in the changing rooms during a Copa Libertadores quarter-final. He made just six appearances at the club after signing on from FC Porto in 2015. In 2011, he punched Roma team-mate Erik Lamela in the face after he didn't pass to him during a defeat at Udinese.

And in 2013, he called caretaker manager Aurelio Andreazzoli 'incompetent' after he was only brought off the bench for 15 minutes during Roma's Coppa Italia final defeat to rivals Lazio. Osvaldo moved to Southampton but controversy followed. In January 2014, he was fined £40,000 and banned for three matches for violent conduct during a touchline bust-up in a match with Newcastle. Three weeks later, he head-butted team-mate Jose Fonte during a training ground fracas, leading to the club handing him a two-week suspension.