Gonzalo Higuain has revealed that Carlo Ancelotti tried to convince him to stay at Real Madrid, but that he was intent on leaving.
The 25-year-old completed a €37m move to Napoli this summer, ending six-and-a-half years at the Santiago Bernabeu.
“I wanted to leave Real Madrid because I wanted to play regularly, but that wasn’t possible there,” explained Higuain in today’s edition of the Gazzetta dello Sport.
“When talks with Napoli got underway, Ancelotti tried in all manners to convince me to stay.
“But I had already made up my mind and the Napoli project was the most interesting out of all the ones proposed to me.”
Higuain arrives at Napoli as the primary replacement for Edinson Cavani, who left for Paris Saint-Germain.
“Cavani has left and will be remembered for the many goals he scored. I’m here to make history like Diego Maradona, because my only target is to win.
“I’m convinced this will be an important experience for me. The club, the Coach and the squad are all of a high level.
“We have to believe in the Scudetto, we are competitive and we can dream even if Serie A is very difficult. We’ll be up against the usual teams…
“The Champions League? It’s hard to say what our chances in Europe are. We’ll be up against teams of an international level, but the side has been built to withstand the challenge of the Champions League.
“Hopefully we could play against Real Madrid. It would be fun to beat them. And I say this without a grudge.”
