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Maradona critical of Higuain for Juventus switch

Reuters

Former Napoli star and merchant of soundbites Diego Maradona has expressed his disappointment in fellow Argentine goal-machine Gonzalo Higuain and his summer move from I Ciuciarelli to Juventus.

Maradona - who made 188 appearances for Napoli, winning two Scudetto titles and the 1988-89 UEFA Cup - was none too pleased to hear of Higuain's move north to Turin.

"As a Napoli fan, I was really disappointed to see Gonzalo go to a direct rival like Juventus," Maradona said, courtesy of ESPN FC. "But he is not the only one to blame. It is also the fault of those who put these deals together. Maybe in my day this would never have happened."

Juventus' club-record €90-million move for Higuain was funded by the world-record €105-million sale of Paul Pogba, with Napoli then filling the void by the departure of the Serie A leader in goals in a season with the signing of Polish international Arkadiusz Milik from Ajax.

Like Higuain, Maradona concedes that he too was courted by Juventus while with the Campania club. Maradona, who spent eight seasons with Napoli after a move from Barcelona, says former Old Lady president Andrea Agnelli attempted to curry his favour with a blank-cheque offer.

"Agnelli pursued me like a lover would," Maradona offered. "He called me constantly and promised me crazy money. He told me that he had offered 100 million lira (€29.3 million) to Ferlaino (Former Napoli owner) and he told me that he would put my salary in a cheque."

"I told him I could never do something that ugly to the Napoli supporters because I felt like one of them. I could never have worn another shirt in Italy that wasn't that of Napoli."

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