Napoli fans turn their ire on former idol Higuaín

Napoli fans are going to take a long time to forgive Gonzalo Higuaín for his imminent move to Juventus. The San Paolo faithful cannot quite come to terms with the fact that the player they anointed as Maradona’s heir, and with who they celebrated a Serie A record haul of 36 goals just two months ago, has chosen to move to Napoli’s most detested rival.

"Higuaín villain"

“Higuaín villain” has become the slogan of protest among the fans, who have taken to the streets in anger. In the city centre Napoli supporters have congregated to put up banners and leave shirts, scarves and photos – all sliced in half. “Two months ago he was singing with us under the stands at San Paolo and now he does this to us…” one fan said. “He could have gone to any foreign side, like Cavani and Lavezzi did. Why Juve? Maradona would never have done this to us.”

One of the banners raised in anger against Higuaín read: “core ‘ngrato” – ungrateful heart, the nickname given to Brazilian José Altafini in 1975 when he left Napoli for Juventus. In the same season he scored an 88^th-minute winner against Napoli that denied them the title.

Maradona

Maradona said recently that “Napoli should sell Higuaín because he’s never going to repeat this season.” Little did the Cosmic Barrel foresee that Juve may be his destination. “Higuaín is going to a direct rival and that hurts me. But you can’t blame the player. He has his responsibilities but the people doing the business are the happiest. Nobody thinks about the fans,” Maradona said on his Facebook page.

Now Napoli fans only wish two things: that Aurelio De Laurentiis spends every last cent of the 94.7 million euro release clause, and that April 2, 2017 comes around quickly: the day Juve play Napoli in the San Paolo.