Christian Maggio announced his international retirement and is in “no rush” to renew his Napoli contract.
The right-back spoke at a Press conference ahead of tomorrow’s Europa League trip to Dinamo Moscow.
“It is a very difficult decision for me, as Italy represented so much, but I have reached this decision with my family,” said Maggio.
Christian Maggio announced his international retirement and is in “no rush” to renew his Napoli contract.
The right-back spoke at a Press conference ahead of tomorrow’s Europa League trip to Dinamo Moscow.
“It is a very difficult decision for me, as Italy represented so much, but I have reached this decision with my family,” said Maggio.
“I think that after seven years of the Nazionale the time has come to let it go. In these years I’ve been very busy and neglected my family because of it. The Nazionale is a closed chapter.
“I haven’t told Antonio Conte yet. I’ve said it now and if I get the chance then I’ll tell him face to face.”
Maggio’s future is also up in the air, as his contract is due to expire at the end of the season, but he has been heavily linked with Inter.
“The situation is clear at the moment. We are evaluating and discussing, but there’s nothing concrete. A contract renewal is not my priority, there is no rush, as I just want to give my all for my teammates. We are both relaxed, there’s no big issue.”
Napoli won the first leg of this Europa League tie 3-1 at the San Paolo with a Gonzalo Higuain hat-trick, but had conceded within two minutes.
Meanwhile, they have lost three Serie A away matches in a row and dropped down to fourth place.
“Clearly in Serie A it’s a bit of an up and down time, but we players are the first to be annoyed by that,” continued Maggio.
“Having said that, we are in the running in three competitions and it’s not easy to maintain that consistency. We must try to stay united through the difficulties.
“The fact we won the first leg could be a danger, as there’s the risk of complacency. However, we know and saw that it won’t be easy, so we’ll face Dinamo with the same mentality as the first leg.
“We see every game as a Final. The Coach has incredible experience in Europe and can give us a big hand with that mentality.
“It’s not easy to reach the Europa League Final, but we are giving it our best, starting from tomorrow. Then we’ll see what happens.
“We must always go out there trying to win. That is our mentality.”