Fernando Signorini, the former personal trainer of Diego Maradona, says that the Argentinian legend would not have been the player he was if it was not for his time as a Napoli player.
Maradona celebrates his 60th birthday on Friday and the former trainer believes that his career and status in the game would not have been as great if he had transferred to one of Italy’s giants like Juventus.
“Diego was overwhelmed from the exaggeration with which people treated him, especially in Naples,” Signorini told TuttoMercatoWeb.
“The heat suffocated him and the affection became too much. But without Napoli, Maradona would not exist.
“If he had gone to Juventus, for example, he would have been a good player but nothing more.
“Winning a scudetto with Juve would have been too simple and he didn’t like simple things.
“Luckily Maradona went to Naples, otherwise the world would have lost the opportunity to see the Maradona phenomenon, from a football and socio-political point of view.”
Napoli become the first club from the mainland of southern Italy to win Serie A when they won the 1986/87 title with Maradona and he starred again when they won it again in 1989/90.
