Gianfranco Zola is torn between his adopted Chelsea home and his first footballing love at Cagliari as he prepares to make a decision on his future in the next 48 hours.
The 37-year-old is evaluating an offer to return to Italian football with Serie B club Cagliari after seven successful seasons with Chelsea.
Zola has been offered a one-year contract reportedly worth €550,000 to captain Cagliari in Serie B next season.
"It is a life decision, there is a family decision to consider. On Wednesday or Thursday at the latest we will give a definite response to Chelsea and Cagliari," Zola's agent Fulvio Marruco told Italian sports paper Gazzetta dello Sport.
"Zola has been a free agent since the 1st of July.
The experienced forward joined Chelsea in 1996 from Parma and was voted footballer of the year in his first season at Stamford Bridge, winning the immediate respect of the Chelsea fans.
The former Italian international, whose Chelsea contract ran out on July 1st after failing to renew his contract with the Barclaycard Premiership side, is free to join any team.
"I am an unemployed player. It is not an easy situation for me," said the Sardinian, who is currently on holiday on his home island.
"I will only sign a contract for one season, I will play one more year.
Speculation regarding Zola's return to his home land has reportedly led to Chelsea re-opening negotiations with the player this week.
However, the decision to return to Cagliari, the club he supported as a child, is proving more difficult than Zola imagined.
"There are pros on one side and cons on the other. There are so many problems, most of all, there have been seven wonderful years in London, imagine what I am in London and at Chelsea," continued Zola.
"Cagliari is the team of my heart. The team that I supported when I was a child was not Juventus but Cagliari."