From Maradona to Demme, another Diego to Naples (photo Ansa)
NAPLES – Napoli has formalized the purchase of Diego Demme from Leipzig for around 12 million euros.
The signing of the contract of the German footballer was made official by the Italian president De Laurentiis with the traditional Twitter post: "Welcome, Diego".
Demme has signed a five-year five million contract per season.
It was 29 years that Napoli did not have a player named Diego in the squad, the last one was Maradona. Demme and Maradona are two very different players but they have in common in name and not only … Demme was named Diego in honor of Diego Armando Maradona.
This is because Demme's dad, a Calabrian who moved to Germany for work reasons, has always been a huge Napoli fan. In Maradona's time, he followed many matches of the Campania club from the stands of the San Paolo stadium in Naples.
So for Demme senior, seeing his son in the Napoli shirt is the realization of a dream he had in his drawer. Demme was born and raised in Germany and thanks to his excellent performances with the Leipzig shirt he also made his debut in the National team.
The German midfielder was in the sights of both Napoli and Fiorentina but in the end he chose the Campania because they are the team of the father's heart and because his idol has always been Rino Gattuso, current coach of the team of the patron Aurelio De Laurentiis. A fairy tale with a happy ending.
Before Lazio-Napoli, the director Giuntoli spoke of his purchase on Sky Sport's microphones: “He is a footballer who gives order to the midfield, he has time, we are very close, we will fill two very important boxes for Gattuso.
It is difficult to explain our crisis in two minutes, we are coming from a somewhat particular situation of difficulty, in recent years we have not been used to it. But already in the last game, despite the defeat I saw a great improvement of the team, great intensity, we are very confident "(sources Ansa and Sky Sport).
Source: Blitz Quotidiano