'My body can't take it anymore' - Ex-Inter and Italy defender Santon forced out

Former Inter and Italy defender Davide Santon has announced his retirement from playing at the age of 31 due to persistent injury problems.

The full-back has spent the last four seasons with Roma, but hasn't made a single appearance under Jose Mourinho in the 2021-22 campaign.

Santon was capped eight times by Italy between 2009 and 2013 and was twice a Scudetto winner with Inter in the first of two stints with the club, either side of a stint from three seasons with Newcastle United.

Injuries finally took their toll on the defender, who announced his playing days were over in an interview with Tuttomercato published on Friday.

"I have to stop playing," he said. "Not for not having had offers, not for anything else, but because my body, with so many injuries in the past, can't take it anymore.

"I didn't want to do this, but I have to. I had endless tests and consultations, but there was nothing to do. I can still walk, but it's not enough to be a professional athlete.

"If I kept pushing, I might need a prosthesis. The left knee just disappeared. It prevents me from doing a lot of things.

"The right knee, which has been operated on three times, removing the cartilage, all the outer meniscus, so as soon as I force it even a little, it swells up and can't bend anymore.

"All my injuries have really come from that, because if the right knee can't bend, you put more pressure on the left and the flexor. If you're playing a game, you might be out for the next five.”

Santon made just 42 Serie A appearances in four seasons with Roma and has been accused by some of refusing transfers elsewhere in order to continue earning easy wages at the Stadio Olimpico.

Responding to these claims, Santon said, "I didn't turn anyone away. I was never going to have a medical exam."