Maradona: Higuain not only one to blame for Juventus move

Napoli legend Diego Maradona has refused to solely blame Gonzalo Higuain for his decision to leave the Stadio San Paolo side for rivals Juventus.

Higuain enjoyed a stellar 2015-16 campaign to guide Napoli to second place in the table, but then opted to join Juventus in a deal worth €90million.

The Argentina international has been heavily criticised for his transfer, but Maradona feels Higuain is by no means the only one to blame for what happened.

“As a Napoli fan, I really hated it to see Gonzalo join a direct rival like Juventus,” Maradona told L’Espresso.

“But we cannot only blame the player for what happened. Of course, the player has to take responsibility and this would perhaps not have happened in my days, but the ones doing the business are the ones at fault here.

“Nobody thinks about the fans. It’s a shame FIFA continues to ignore matters like this.”

Maradona could have made the same move as Higuain during his playing days, but a move to Turin was never an option for the iconic attacking midfielder.

“Mister Agnelli was courting me like you are courting a woman,” Maradona added.

“He kept on calling me and promised me crazy figures. He was willing to pay 100 billion Italian lira and was ready to give me the same figure.

“I told him I could never do something like that to the Napoli fans. I felt like one of them. I could never have worn the jersey of another Italian club.”