Christian Vieri Almost Decided Against Scoring Loads Of Goals As A Career

Remember how much fun it was to switch on Gazzetta Football Italia of a Saturday morning to watch highlights of Christian Vieri having an absolute whale of a time putting a ball in the back of the net? It almost didn't happen.

The one time most expensive footballer in the world spent a good portion of the '90s and early '00s moving clubs and making sure to score an arseload of goals wherever he went.

Whether it was with Juventus, Lazio or Internazionale (with a free scoring season at Atletico Madrid thrown in for good measure), 'Bobo' put his name on the scoresheet with unerring regularity, finishing a career which would also take in spells with AC Milan, Fioretina, Monaco and a return to Atalanta with 236 goals in 476 appearances.

Here's another Serie A legend, Francesco Totti, reacting to a Radja Nainggolan screamer...

Vieri would retire in 2009 as one of the greatest goal scoring phenoms of his generation, but it could have all been so different for the Bologna born hitman.

Christian Vieri

One of the finest sights of the '90s: Christian Vieri picturing how many goals he's about to batter into the net. Image: PA

The former Italy international moved to Australia with his family in the 1970's and it was during his upbringing in South West Sydney that Vieri developed a love for cricket.

Instead of picking up golden boots, Vieri was almost slogging sixes for a living, as he once admitted in an interview with Champions Magazine.

"A hundred per cent. I would love to have been a cricketer. I was telling a friend of mine just last week, I would stop playing right now to play cricket if I could get the same contract. I was a bit of an all-rounder at school, but I would play batsman."

Christian Vieri

Vieri became the world's most expensive player in 1999, when Internazionale paid Lazio £32m for his services. Image: PA

While we're sure Vieri would have dominated the crease for years as a cricketer, we're grateful he opted for the penalty area instead. Saturdays and Sundays on Channel Four just wouldn't have been the same without him.

Topics: Football, Australia, Italy

Joe Baiamonte

Northerner. Assistant Editor of SPORTbible. Studied Journalism and Broadcasting in a portakabin on a car park of Salford University for three years. Believes football peaked with Serie A in the '90s and strong-arms pro wrestling references into as many articles as possible. Neymar once took 50 euros off me during a game of poker.

@JoeBaia