Altafini, Sivori, Higuain: how many market “snags” between Napoli and Juve

There have been a lot of business on the Juventus-Naples axis. And, almost always, it was the bianconeri who gained. In the summer of 1965, exhausted by the rules of Heriberto Herrera who in a famous interview said “For me Coramini counts as Sivori”, Cabezon decided that it was time for a change of scenery. After eight years at Juve, he chose Napoli who welcomed him like a king. Commander Achille Lauro fainted: he paid out 70 million lire and Avvocato Agnelli forced him to also buy two Fiat engines for his naval fleet. Sivori was a myth for the lawyer: if he had to deprive himself, they had to pay him handsomely … With the Napoli shirt the Argentine formed a dream couple with Altafini, but after three years the passion vanished and just during a Napoli- Juventus in December 1968 Sivori was at the center of a fight that cost him six days of disqualification.

Josè from the bench

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Zoff was also at the center of an exchange between Juve and Napoli. In this case the Bianconeri secured the goalkeeper in the summer of 1972 and in exchange gave the Neapolitans Gedeone Carmignani. The most striking casus belli, also in that summer of 1972, was, however, José Altafini. After seven years at Napoli, the Brazilian decided to accept the flattery of Juve. Many fans rebelled, but there was nothing to be done. It happened that in the spring of 1975, during a Scudetto match between Juventus and Napoli, Altafini came off the bench and resolved the issue in his own way: a 2-1 goal. From that moment, for the Neapolitans, he was “core ‘ngrato”.

Ciro second youth

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In more recent times, it was the passage of Ciro Ferrara to Juventus that made noise. Marcello Lippi, who had just become Juventus coach, wanted him to make him the pivot of defense. Napoli had more than 9 billion lire paid, but that sale was painful because Ferrara represented the heart of the team. In fact it was a farewell that testified to a downsizing of Napoli’s ambitions. At Juve, on the other hand, Ferrara lived a second youth and even took away the satisfaction of raising the Champions League in 1996.

Gonzalo phenomenon

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The latest case in the spotlight is that of Gonzalo Higuain. Extraordinary striker of Napoli, in the 2015-16 championship he achieved the beauty of 36 goals in 35 games. A phenomenon. And Juve, usually, does not leave the phenomena to their opponents. So in the summer of 2016 the bianconeri put 90 million euros on the scales and secured the Pipita. The Napoli fans, once again, took the matter as a real disgrace. Now there is Mertens: from Naples, even if now without a contract, will he really go to Juve?