ADL: Higuain didn’t want Callejon

By Football Italia staff

Aurelio De Laurentiis claims Gonzalo Higuain “had it in for Jose Callejon” and that Juventus were “crazy” to pay an Italian-record fee for the ex-Napoli striker.

De Laurentiis and Higuain have waged a war of words since the latter’s departure to Juve for €90m last summer, and the Napoli President made it clear the hatchet was far from buried on his part.

“It’s not a disappointment,” he was quoted as saying by Tuttonapoli.

“When you implement a release clause to avoid a transfer happening, if there’s someone crazy enough to pay up – and Juventus shouldn’t have – then Higuain shouldn’t have accepted.

“Maradona says he won two League titles and would never go to any other Italian team. It’s too easy otherwise.

“The unpleasant thing is that the brother told me Higuain complained about the scarcity of his teammates, but to me they didn’t seem so scarce, if we think that Mertens has become a 30-goal striker.

“We’re the only team with four players who have hit double-digits in terms of goals.

“[Higuain] had it in for Callejon, the brother kept repeating, plus when I extended Callejon’s contract.

“That’s extraordinary and I always reward the person, otherwise it’s just a cold and sterile contract. The problem was [Higuain’s].

“If the brother tells me that he’s gone [to Juve] to win, I could tell him that Juve have won so many Scudetti, even without him. He’s not so important to Juve.

“Still, it was his choice, one that was inopportune and without style. See where Cavani and Lavezzi went instead.”

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