Villarreal striker Guiseppe Rossi said Thursday that he wants to return to his native Italy when the transfer window reopens in January.

The 23-year-old Italian international, who has also played for Manchester United, Newcastle and Parma, is in his fourth season with the Spanish club.

The summer saw rumors of interest from Italian sides only for any attempt at a transfer to fall through before the transfer window closed at the end of August.

However, that has done nothing to end his desire to return home.

"I hope to return to Italy in January," he said in declarations printed in Spanish sports paper Diario AS.

"I don' t know what happened this summer when both Fiorentina and Juventus were interested in signing me, but any Italian side would be good for me. The important thing is for me to return to the 'Calcio' ," he assured.

Rossi scored 9 goals in 19 appearances for Parma during his short spell playing in Italy and his ability to score goals has made him an attractive target for Italian sides.

He has scored 33 goals in 91 games for Villarreal and has a contract that expires at the end of June 2013.

The striker' s buyout clause is currently 40 million euros (52 million US dollars), but with Villarreal looking to cut costs and rely increasingly on its youth system, his current club would negotiate a fee of around a quarter of that value.

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