Cafu eyes Brazil homecoming
31.12 || webmaster
Source: Football Italia
Marcos Cafu has confirmed he’ll end his career at San Paolo, suggesting this will be his last season with Milan.
“I have just one dream: to return to San Paolo as a player,” he told Brazilian newspaper ‘Globo Esporte.’ “When I moved to Europe, I left the door open for a comeback.”
As Cafu will be 36 years old at the end of the current campaign, it’s highly unlikely he will put this move off for another season.
The right-back left San Paolo after six years to join Spanish outfit Real Saragozza in 1994, but returned to Brazil soon after for Palmeiras.
His Serie A career took off with Roma in 1997 and he went on to win the Scudetto and 1994 and 2002 World Cups.
All set for a spell in Japan after his contract with the Giallorossi expired in the summer of 2003, Cafu was instead handed a revival at Milan, lifting another Serie A title.
News of his departure is a blow for the Rossoneri, who are also losing Jaap Stam at the end of this season, as the Dutchman has already revealed he’ll go back to Holland.
As Paolo Maldini and Alessandro Costacurta are in their late thirties, a revolution will be needed in Carlo Ancelotti’s defence.
The most likely target to replace Cafu at right-back is Lazio's Italian international Massimo Oddo, though Marco Cassetti of Lecce and Reggina's Giandomenico Mesto are other options.
Meanwhile, the indefatigable Cafu jokingly explained that he would gladly go back over his glittering career and change a few things.
“If I were to do it all again, I’d try to play as a striker. Someone like me has to push forward, come back to defend, go up the field again and put in a cross. If you make a mistake, the attacker moans and shouts at you. Yes, it’s definitely easier to be a hitman in football!”