According to Italian transfer expert, Gianluca Di Marzio a Major League Soccer side made a massive bid to try and sign Udinese striker, Antonio Di Natale. The Italian international was set to retire from professional football at the end of last season, but decided to postpone those plans and return to Udinese for another season. Now it looks as though at least one team is doing their best to try and convince him to keep playing even longer.

Di Marzio’s site suggested that an undisclosed team offered Di Natale quite a substantial raise to join them. The offer was reportedly worth 8 million after taxes over two seasons. While no team was mentioned in the report, many have been quick to speculate that it was the Montreal Impact. The Impact have a history of signing Italian players and are in need of someone who can replace Marco Di Vaio up top.

Di Natale has never played outside of Italy and has been with Udinese since 2004, scoring 188 goals and making over 350 appearances for the Serie A club. He leads Udinese with 9 goals and 5 assists in 19 games this season and last scored against Empoli on January 26th.

While Sebastian Giovinco will be joining Toronto FC, other players based in Italy who were linked with a potential move to MLS didn’t end up making the jump. There was talk of the Montreal Impact possibly being interested in Alberto Gilardino and FC Dallas going after Michael Essien, but neither move came to fruition. Antonio Cassano terminated his contract with Parma and although many were quick to speculate he’d be on his way to North America, he quickly shut those rumours down.

Along with becoming a club legend at Udinese, Di Natale has also made quite the name for himself with the Italian National Team. He has 11 goals in 42 caps for the Azzurri and featured in both Euro 2008 and 2012, as well as in South Africa for the World Cup in 2010.

Despite being 37-years-old, Di Natale still has plenty to offer as his leadership and ability in front of net would be a valuable asset to any MLS club.