Milan (AFP) – Fabio Quagliarella will continue in Serie A next season after Sampdoria announced on Monday that the veteran striker had signed a one-year extension to his contract.

In a statement, Samp said that the 39-year-old former Italy forward “will stay with the ‘blucerchiato’ until 30 June 2023”.

Quagliarella has scored 105 times in 268 Samp appearances since joining in 2016 and is approaching his 20th campaign in Italy’s top flight.

He should break into the top 10 for Serie A appearances as he sits just four behind 10th-placed Silvio Piola — the league’s all-time top scorer — with 537 matches.

Another four league strikes would move him above iconic goal-getter Gabriel Batistuta in the scoring charts with 185.

Last year he netted just four times as Samp secured Serie A safety at the expense of their local rivals Genoa.

Serie A top scorer in the 2018-2019 season with 26 goals, Quagliarella has spent his entire career in Italy with clubs including Juventus, Udinese, and Napoli.

He won three Serie A titles with Juventus between 2010 and 2014, before moving to city rivals Torino, and back to Sampdoria in 2016, where he had a brief spell earlier in his career.