Former Inter defender Fabio Cannavaro has moved to clear up some misconceptions surrounding his move from Inter to arch rivals Juventus.
The former centre back, who captained Italy during their 2006 World Cup triumph, swapped the Nerazzurri for the Bianconeri in 2004 and he found himself crucified by many Inter supporters who were upset with his decision.
“People are stupid and started thinking that I was doing poorly on purpose because Moggi had called me to go to Juventus,” he began an interview with Italian broadcaster Sky Sport Italia.
“Everyone at Inter is an exceptional person and I spent some wonderful years there. I’m sorry that people thought that I purposely didn’t play in order to leave but I actually played for a year and a half with a stress fracture in my leg.
“I still remember when Inter sold me. Oriali came to me and told me: ‘I’m sorry but the club had decided to sell you. The deal is done and you have to leave tomorrow’.
“I said: “How can you sell me after all the hard work I’ve done? I want to be here. I was told I was going to Juventus but I wanted to stay at Inter where I had some beautiful years.
“Some of the stories that came out were not true.”
He then went on to reiterate that he was injured and revealed that he understands why there was some bitterness on the part of Inter fans.
“In the next two years I played 38 games out of 38 and 36 games out of 36. I then went to the World Cup and I won it, I won the Balon d’Or and the FIFA World Player of the year, it is normal that there was some bitterness from Inter fans and then some stories came out.
“I want to repeat that I had an injury and I made a mistake by not stopping immediately.”
Cannavaro joined Inter in the Summer of 2002 from Parma and in his two years with the club, the current manager of Chinese Super League side Guangzhou Evergrande, made a total of 74 appearances across all competitions, in which he scored three goals.
After Juventus he went on to Spanish giants Real Madrid, had a season back with Juventus and then finished his career after a season with Emirati club Al Ahli.
