Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Yesterday, Italian football club Juventus F.C. announced signing of Argentine striker Gonzalo Higuaín from their rival club S.S.C. Napoli. 28-year-old Higuaín signed a five-year contract with the Old Lady for a Italian record transfer fee of €90 million.
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Debuting at the age of 17 in 2005, Higuaín has made 329 league appearances and scored 191 goals. He joined Spanish capital club Real Madrid in 2006. Spending six-and-half seasons with Los Blancos, Higuaín won a La Liga title there.
Higuaín — nicknamed Pipita — joined Napoli in 2013. While there he broke the goal scoring record set by Gunnar Nordahl of the Italian Serie A, netting 36 goals in 35 appearances. He helped Napoli qualify for the UEFA Champions League as the club finished second in the league.
In remarks to Gazetta World following Higuaín's agreement to the contract, AS Roma captain Francesco Totti said, "Footballers today are a bit like nomads[...] They follow money and not their hearts." 40-year-old Totti has played 25 years for Roma, signing a one-year contract extention last month.
Napoli's president Aurelio De Laurentiis said, "Some believe that talking of a betrayal is an exaggeration, but I think differently. In this move there is the full meaning of a betrayal, which includes ingratitude."((it))
Former Agrentine captain and Napoli legend Diego Maradona said, "This Higuain affair is hurting me because he is going to a direct rival like Juventus. But we cannot blame the player either. A player has a responsibility to himself and it is those fat cats of business that are grinning the most in this case. Nobody thinks of the fan."((es))
Higuaín has been assigned the number 9 jersey.
Sources[edit]
- UEFA Champions League. "uefachampionsleague on Instagram" — Instagram, July 27, 2016
- "Napoli, De Laurentiis: «Higuain, la Juventus e le visite di notte: provo tristezza»" — Corriere dello Sport – Stadio, July 27, 2016 (Italian)
- "ADL: 'Higuain is a traitor!'" — Football Italia, July 27, 2016
- "Footballers today follow money and not their hearts - Roma's Totti" — ESPN FC, July 27, 2016
- "Higuain joins Juventus" — Juventus F.C., July 26, 2016
- Diego Maradona. "Diego Maradona" — Facebook, July 24, 2016
from English Wikinews Atom feed. https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Higua%C3%ADn_leaves_Napoli_for_Juventus