28 July 2016
Juventus can today confirm the permanent transfer of Gonzalo Higuain from Napoli for a club record fee of 90 million euros, agreeing an five-year contract until 30 June 2021.
The deal almost doubles the previous highest sum paid for a player, that of Gianluigi Buffon on the captain’s transfer from Parma in 2001.
In moving for Higuain, the Italian champions have secured the services of one of the most prolific and complete forwards in the world game, boasting a staggering 191 league strikes to his name in 329 appearances across spells with the Partenopei, Real Madrid and River Plate.
Making his professional debut in May 2005 at the age of 17, a second-season flurry of 13 goals for the Argentinian ensured the French-born forward would not remain in his homeland for long, with Madrid coming calling in December 2006.
Despite finding first team action hard to come by on arrival in Spain, it wasn’t long before the Merengues’ number 20 was a firm fixture in the starting XI and inevitably the scoresheet.
Taking the opportunity presented by the long-term absence of Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Higuain would end his first full season in the capital as the club’s top marksman with 22 goals, four of which coming in one match against Malaga in November 2008.
“Pipita” would repeat the feat the following year, netting 27 times – one more than new team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo – a total bettered only by Barcelona’s Lionel Messi.
After an injury-troubled 2010-11 season, Higuain would form one part of the most prolific teams in La Liga history in his penultimate campaign, contributing 22 to a total of 121 as Real romped to a 32nd top-flight title.
After six-and-a-half seasons at the Bernabeu, the striker headed across the Mediterranean to join Napoli and for all of his attacking prowess few would have anticipated the heights reached by Higuain in the last of his three years in Italy
Having reached the 15-goal mark in all but one of the previous seven seasons, a run extended by two fine terms in Campania, the Argentine broke Gunnar Nordhal’s 66-year old scoring record last time out, netting 36 times – once against Juventus at the Stadio San Paolo - as Napoli finished as runners-up in Serie A.
The past 12 months and beyond in Italy have seen the 28-year-old stand in a class of his own in around the opposition penalty area, scoring goals of every variety with breathtaking regularity.
Spearheading the southern club’s title tilt and eventual automatic qualification place for the Champions League, the South American would go on to register more shots on target (83), more braces (9) and appear on the scoresheet more times than any of his contemporaries (25) in a campaign that served to demonstrate that his a unique talent and one capable of taking any side in Europe to the next level.
With Gonzalo now following fellow Argentines Carlos Tevez and Paulo Dybala to don the black and white of Juventus, few would write off the chances of a first Serie A title for the Argentine and a record sixth on the spin for the Old Lady.
Bienvenido, Pipita.
