Andrea Ranocchia has recalled leaving Inter Milan last summer.

The veteran departed after 12 years for Monza, but was forced to retire due to a leg fracture this season.

Ranocchia told TMW: “After a meeting at the end of last year. On that occasion we said to each other: 'Let's see'. They had to plan a season that still had no clear lines and I started to look around. Everything with great calm, as always in these 12 years.

"I felt, however, that I no longer had this great passion for football. I had spoken with Inter at the end of the season and we said that we wouldn't go on together.

“And I thought: 'After 12 years, finding a new club, a new enthusiasm, maybe I'll find new enthusiasm and new motivation'.

“And instead, the feelings were always the same, there was always the half-doubt. Then everything progressed when I got injured."