Maradona Still Wants Transfer

Diego Maradona, in a weekly column published today carrying his byline, reaffirmed that he wants to leave Italy at the end of the current season to join an Argentine team.

“I want to transfer to Argentina, otherwise I might quit soccer,” the Napoli forward said in the article written for the daily newspaper Roma.

The Argentine player denied that he has been negotiating his transfer to Olympique Marseille in France or to a Japanese team.

“Japan can be a longer-term possibility. . . . In Italy I have been treated badly, more than in any other country. I am tired and I want to leave. I want to negotiate an agreement with (Napoli’s President Corrado) Ferlaino and leave Naples. Neapolitan fans can’t hope I will stay here through 1993,” Maradona wrote.

The 30-year-old Maradona, one of the world’s most imaginative and highest-paid players, has received offers up to $20 million from foreign clubs should he succeed in breaking his contract.