The future of Inter Milan's troubled Brazil striker Adriano is still not clear, his agent said after meeting Inter executives Wednesday.
''We had a positive meeting but now I have to talk to Adriano. It isn't easy to sort things out when your client isn't actually there,'' Gilmar Rinaldi said after meeting Inter Deputy President Rinaldo Ghelfi and Sporting Director Marco Branca.
Adriano, whose form has suffered after battles with depression and substance abuse, has said he wants to leave soccer and ''focus on other things for a while''.
Speculation about his future has been rife since he failed to return to Milan from international duty ten days ago.
Inter Chairman Massimo Moratti said earlier on Wednesday that rescinding Adriano's contract ''would be one of the options on the table''.
In his widely-read column in a Sao Paulo daily, Brazil 1970s legend Tostao speculated that Adriano wanted to stay in Brazil after seeing how Ronaldo had managed to get a new lease on his career life with Corinthians.
''He'll take a big pay cut, sure, and he'll have to bite the bullet and pay the contract get-out money, but he'll be where he wants to be, even if it is the shanty-town he grew up in,'' the former ace striker said.
Flamengo Marketing Director Joao Henrique Areias said ''as a player, right now, Adriano's worth nothing, zero. No one's going to pay a cent for him. But if he starts showing some of what made him great he can turn things round''.
Flamengo has been the club most closely linked to Adriano if and when the 27-year-old sorts himself out.
Inter coach Jose Mourinho has said he hopes Adriano's decision to quit the team would make him ''a happy man''.
Adriano, who failed to return from Brazil after playing for his country at the start of the month, announced last week he would take a temporary break from playing soccer and, in any case, would never return to play in Italy.
His decision did not appear to surprise Mourinho who said ''if not playing soccer makes him a happy man, fine. I still have not spoken to him but I'd like to know the reasoning behind his decision. We'll see''.
Inter, 'The Special One' recalled, ''did everything it could to help him before I arrived and after. It's now up to him to say what he wants. All I know is what I've read in the press''.
Adriano has scored some 175 goals, mainly with Inter, since arriving in Italy from Flamengo in 2001.
With 41 Brazil caps and 27 goals to his credit, he was often considered as the long-term successor to Ronaldo.
