“Special to Napoli, the ADL wanted me to tour the stadium like the Pope. I was overwhelmed by the affection of the people. My children…”

This is how the former blue forward, who is now in Valencia, speaks to the Gazzetta dello Sport’s microphones about his experience in a Napoli shirt.

You say Neapolitan ed Edison Cavani Melts: “A piece of the heart. For many reasons: the past, but also the present. My first two children, Bautista and Lucas, live there, they are 9 and 11 years old, they play football and they obviously support Napoli”.

This is how the former blue forward, who is now in Valencia, speaks to the Gazzetta dello Sport’s microphones about his experience in a Napoli shirt.

Let’s start with the memories.

“All the teams you play in leave you with something, but Napoli has a special place in my memory, because those three years were the embryo of a flourishing career that then continued in Paris and Manchester. I am a reserved type, not much used to expressing feelings. The affection I received in Naples moved me from the first moment, sparked something special in me.As soon as I arrived in the city, there were a lot of people outside the hotel.In the stadium..unbelievable. President De Laurentiis wanted me to walk around San Paolo to say hello as if I were the Pope, but I didn’t feel like it, I didn’t even play a minute, I didn’t do anything to those people who greeted me in such an unusual way. Those faces, that affection, that engagement, that energy… I was overwhelmed.

I felt I had to reciprocate in some way, and I gave myself all to do. Also for this reason, winning the Italian Cup after so many years without a trophy, against a very strong Juventus, was something indelibly magical. It may not have been a great headline, but it came to the end of the journey we’ve taken with the city, and the joy-sharing was complete.”