Juventus announces €90M Higuain signing; 3rd-most expensive transfer ever

When Gonzalo Higuain joined Napoli, people talked about his potential impact in the same way that Diego Maradona's arrival at the club was talked about in the 1980s.

But three years later, Higuain is leaving Napoli with anything but the type of legacy that Maradona carved out in Italy.

On Tuesday, Juventus confirmed its purchase of Higuain for €90 million that will be paid over two years, as the Argentinian forward put pen to paper on a five-year contract with the Old Lady to the sound of torches being lit by Napoli's supporters.

The deal is the most expensive in Italian football history.

The €90-million fee falls just short of the €96 million Real Madrid reportedly paid to sign Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United in 2009, which marks the second most expensive transfer ever. Both come in behind Gareth Bale's opulent move to the Santiago Bernabeu, which cost the Spanish side €100.7 million according to leaked documents of the transfer.

Largely due to the fact that Higuain averaged more than one goal per fixture in Serie A last season, Napoli was on the brink of winning its first Scudetto since 1990, when Maradona still played at Stadio San Paolo. In the end, however, the club finished nine points back of Juventus, who won its fifth straight title and will now have the 28-year-old's services for the upcoming campaign.

Higuain's tally of 36 goals last season broke Gunnar Nordahl's 66-year-old Serie A scoring record, the Argentine netting a hat-trick on the final day of the campaign to establish the new mark.

As rumours of his move to Turin starting to gain steam over the weekend, supporters of Napoli gathered throughout Naples, where they could be seen tearing up pictures of Higuain and setting fire to replicas of his shirt.

Juventus and Napoli are scheduled to play Oct. 30 at Juventus Stadium in what will mark the first time Higuain takes the pitch against his former club.

Higuain becomes the Bianconeri's biggest prize in an eventful summer that has seen them already bring Dani Alves, Miralem Pjanic, Medhi Benatia and Marko Pjaca aboard.