Marek Hamsik spoke with Corriere dello Sport on his China temptation, Carlo Ancelotti and a challenging day in Florence.
There was a chance that Hamsik would no longer be wearing the azzurro shirt, as China had come calling and the interest was strong. "I had always been curious, from the little that we saw, when we went there to play the Supercoppa final in 2012," the Napoli captain explained. There were financial motives, as well. "I had the opportunity to comfortably provide for and set my family up."
The arrival of Carlo Ancelotti, however, may have been the turning point. "Napoli signed the winningest manager available. He has great quality and a unique international knowledge. Me as a regista? It's something that intrigues me. I'm interested and optimistic."
Hamsik also spoke on the final three games of last season and the dissatisfaction from Florence: "Watching Inter-Juventus on television left something inside of us that we weren't able to overcome," admits Hamsik. "The league, more than Juventus won it, we lost it. I'm not making guesses, as I don't believe in those things, but during that weekend, two things happened and combined together to demoralize us."