Maradona's son set to sign with Genoa

[SueB]

http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/jul12h.html

Genoa was relegated from Serie B to C1 this past season. Roberto Donadoni is set to coach them next year.

I feel sorry for this kid, given the amount of scrutiny he will suffer every time he sets foot on the field.

[Pibe de River Plate]

If he is anything like his father on the pitch, he'll be great. I hope he is a better person then Maradona. I was hoping he would stay at Napoli though. It would make for a great story if he lead them to glory like his father.

[halamadrid07]

Good times, Napoli wins Scudetto.

http://www.vivadiego.com/100587.jpg

[SueB]

Actually, I read on Italian teletext that it turns out he IS staying with Napoli.

[ayers]

A naive question here -

It reads to me that Diego junior grew up (and spent all his young life) in Napoli. So is he from extra-marital relationship? (I remember seeing photos of Maradona and his daughters but never knew he had a son.)

Just curious.

[MathuzaLem]

I heard that Maradona doesn't care for this son...

[SueB]

Yes, it was from an extra-marital relationship. Maradona denied being the father, but DNA proved it to be so. Here's an article about him from several years back when he was first getting noticed as a player:

http://football.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,4284,546667,00.html

And a more recent interview:

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/winner/thebiginterview/content_objectid=13046654_method=full_siteid=89488_headline=-FOOTBALL:-DAY-I-MET-DAD-FOR-FIRST-TIME-HE-TRIED-TO-BEAT-ME-UP-WITH-A-GOLF-CLUB-name_page.html

He's apparently had no relationship whatsoever with his father.

[phillips10]

there's a story on young Diego in August's World Soccer...which I don't think you can access online.

It talks about how he first met his father recently, by avoiding security to catch up with him on a golf course in Italy.....and they made plans to meet again..

doesn't mention a possible move away from Napoli..

can't imagine any more pressure on a young kid in a city and club that is desparate for something to positive.

[SueB]

Yeah, that's what that second article was about (his first meeting with his father), but I can't get it to work now.

I'll just list the link to the google page, from which it works fine:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=maradona+son+napoli+dailyrecord&btnG=Google+Search

[ayers]

Thanks, SueB and Phillips10, for the info.

Couldn't help but laughing at the paragraph--

from football guardian
Certainly if every foreign star who ever played in Serie A had made so generous with their seed, just think of the team the Italians could be fielding.