06 July,2017 08:31 AM IST | Rome | IANS
Argentine legend Diego Armando Maradona has said that he did not request payment in return for agreeing to become an honorary citizen of Naples, the scene of his greatest success in club football
Diego Maradona
Diego Maradona
Argentine legend Diego Armando Maradona has said that he did not request payment in return for agreeing to become an honorary citizen of Naples, the scene of his greatest success in club football.
"I swear on my mother, who is watching me from heaven, that nobody has mentioned money to me. Nobody. When the citizenship was proposed to me, I accepted immediately," he said. "Why is it always necessary to ask for money? It's not that way for me," Maradona said.
Waxing philosophical, he lamented the enormous influence of money in contemporary society before heatedly denouncing those who have accused him of seeking to profit from the initiative to honour him. "I'd like to find the person who said I came here to earn $260,953 and I'd spit in his face," he said.
Maradona said that he has had a special relationship with the city since arriving in 1984 to join the Napoli club. "I've been a citizen since the first moment I pulled on the No. 10 jersey," the Argentine said.
