Sampdoria Set To Make Cassano Deal Permanent

Real Madrid are set to recuperate the fee that they paid to sign Antonio Cassano two years ago after Sampdoria began talks to make his move to the club permanent.

The 25-year-old moved to Spain in 2006, but endured a tough time at the Santiago Bernabéu and both he and the club agreed to part ways last summer.

A loan move to Sampdoria was agreed for one season and Madrid were keen to include an option to buy as part of the deal.

After a slow start to his time at the club due to injuries, Cassano sprang into life before Christmas and showed why he was considered to be so highly-rated as a youngster.

Now Sampdoria have contacted Madrid about making the move permanent and are said to be close to agreeing a €5.5m deal for his services.

Los Merengues paid €6m for Cassano when they took him to Spain from AS Roma in January 2006 after a long dispute with the Giallorossi over his contract.

While he was expected to join his former coach Fabio Capello at Juventus, the player instead opted to move abroad and signed for Madrid.

After scoring on his debut things looked bright for the striker, but he failed to impress and when Capello took over the pair fell out.

Following a game at Gimnàstic when Cassano was an unused substitute, he was suspended from the team after a dressing bust-up with the trainer.

That saw him virtually frozen out and after the club failed to find a new side for him last winter, he was off-loaded in the summer to Sampdoria.