Corrado Ferlaino remembered that when went to Barcelona to buy Diego Maradona while waiting at the airport to return to Italya bartender at the air station told him that the “culé” team had just sold a “package”without knowing that he was in front of the president of the club that had hired the Argentine star.
“When I bought Maradonaafter signing a very expensive contract, which was the highest in the world at the time, he was very tired because he had come in a private plane from Naples to Barcelona almost without sleep, so while I waited at the airport to fly back to ItalyI went to the bar and the bartender asked me: Are you Italian? Yes, I told him, I’m Neapolitan, and he looked at me surprised”recalled Ferlaino.
Ferlaino He continued with that old story and added: “The bartender answered me: Neapolitan, what a coincidence, We just scammed Napoli, we sold Maradona, they take a ‘package'”.
“At that moment, I drank a whiskey and with the bartender’s comment I chokedafter which I asked him: why a scam?, and he replied that Diego was fat, finished and that’s why they got rid of him“, he continued.
The right decision
The former president of napoli added: “On the contrary, we made a great negotiation, we take the best in the world. Maradona wanted to leave, he was not satisfied in Barcelona, so they wanted to show that Diego was useless, that he was finished, despite the fact that he was still very young. He was the best of all. The Catalans are like that, they don’t know how to take care of their idols, now it happened with (Lionel) Messi, they also let him go.”
To end the story, Ferlaino commented that “the bartender’s absurd comment caused me such an impact that from that moment I never drank whiskey again, I got the idea.”
After closing the pass, which cost 10.5 million dollars and it was the most expensive at that time, Ferlaino traveled to Italy for the presentation of Maradonawhich occurred in Naples on July 5, 1984, the day that marked the beginning of the eternal love between Diego and the Partenopean club, to which he brought happiness for seven seasons.
The “10” was presented to more than 80,000 fans at the San Paolo stadiumtoday called Diego Armando Maradonabefore the love of the Neapolitans who filled the stands and swore eternal love.
During his time with Napoli’s number “10”, Maradona guided the team to five titles: two from Serie A (1986/1987 and 1889/1990), one Italian Cup (1986/1987), one UEFA Cup (1988/1989) and one Italian Super Cup (1990); while he was crowned world champion with Argentina in Mexico 86.
Throughout the almost seven years that he was in Napoli, Maradona wore the shirt in 259 gamesafter which “Pelusa” scored 115 goals and provided 78 assists.
Source: Ambito
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
