Italy defender Paolo Cannavaro, brother of Fabio Cannavaro, has revealed he could have joined Manchester City in 2014.
Area Napoli cover comments from him today from an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport. He admits Manchester City were an option when he left Napoli 12 years ago.
The defender is almost synonymous with the Italian club after making 238 appearances for them in two separate spells. The second of those lasted from 2006 to 2014. He also played for Parma, Verona and Sassuolo during his career.
Despite that long relationship, his departure from the club in 2014 proved to be something of a controversial one.
He has indicated in the years since that he felt that he was forced out by manager Rafa Benitez. He had been keen to stay at the club and end his career there, having established himself as a club captain and an idol to the club’s fans.
A departure was eventually secured in January 2014, when he joined Sassuolo on loan. That move was made permanent the following summer. But it seems Manchester City were also an option on the table at the time.
“Was my departure in 2014 Rafa Benitez’s fault? Everyone makes their own decisions,” he said.
“He chose to dismantle the previous team and renew. I’m only sorry I didn’t have a chance to change his mind, but he knows what I think. I even told him so to his face.”
“Is it true that I could have gone to Manchester City? I was open to the move only because I realized I wouldn’t have had a place with Benitez. I would have liked to, but it fell through because Napoli asked for too high a fee.”