Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis says Gonzalo Higuain “wanted star names”, so he moved to Juventus.
The striker controversially left the Partenopei this summer when the Bianconeri activated his release clause, and the patron discussed the move with BeIn Sports.
“He has this extraordinary family, with two sides of a scale,” De Laurentiis explained.
“On one side there’s the more sentimental angle represented by his father and Gonzalo. The other is more commercial with his brother, Nicolas, and his mother.
Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis says Gonzalo Higuain “wanted star names”, so he moved to Juventus.
The striker controversially left the Partenopei this summer when the Bianconeri activated his release clause, and the patron discussed the move with BeIn Sports.
“He has this extraordinary family, with two sides of a scale,” De Laurentiis explained.
“On one side there’s the more sentimental angle represented by his father and Gonzalo. The other is more commercial with his brother, Nicolas, and his mother.
“We met with his father and with Nicolas in the same location where we signed the first contract, the airport of Venice.
“I made an offer to increase his already very high salary, so much so that his dad and Nicolas were satisfied with my proposal.
“Defining his extension was put-off in the following weeks as his contract wasn’t expiring, he still had two years.
“There was this release clause of €95m and €90m for Italian clubs. The priority in a day’s work isn’t just Gonzalo Higuain but hundreds more things.
“Several times I and my administrators contacted Nicolas, then around January he started saying ‘you don't have a strong team’. And this was in the year where he broke the scoring record!
“I always answered that he obviously didn’t have confidence in his brother, and Nicolas said that Gonzalo didn’t want to play with those players who were doing very well in the blue shirt.
“I said ‘do you think one player alone brings results?’. It seemed like he was interested in having a team of star names, rather than being at a club where we have to look for new talent.
“At a certain point, despite our offer being higher than the one which took him to Juventus… he went to Juventus.
“He’ll have considered his age and a squad which is the favourite to win the title.
“Maybe he was also thinking about winning the Champions League. I wish it to him, after I wish it to me…”
Napoli were Juve’s biggest challengers last year, but De Laurentiis believes it’s very difficult to compete with the Old Lady.
“Last year Juventus gave us a great chance for the Scudetto with their bad start. I think we’re stronger this year, because the lack of a player like Higuain made it clear to the Coach that we have to return to a team game.
“It’s useless to talk about Juventus, they have the highest turnover and they identify with [Andrea] Agnelli’s will to win at all costs.
“His career within the family is also at stake, with roles to be defined. We’ll see what happens within the club when he leaves Juventus…”