With 24 major trophies and 458 career goals for club and country, Cavani has nothing left to prove. He previously announced his retirement in December, appearing to acknowledge the end of a 20-year odyssey that peaked with a legendary stint at Paris Saint-Germain. However, the Uruguayan reversed that decision, fuelled by a competitive fire that has seen him continue into his 40th year. Whether he can emulate the longevity of former teammate Zlatan Ibrahimovic remains to be seen, but the pressure to exit gracefully is mounting.
Ruggeri warned that the current path only serves to invite more ridicule. “The career he had, what more is it going to give him? It’s saying this is as far as he goes. He is not in debt. He came, tried to do it, but physically he couldn’t,” Ruggeri concluded. “But when these things happen, notice that every time he’s about to start, something else happens. These are signals that football is giving him, that you have to make the most difficult decision we football players have, which is to say this is as far as I go.”