Troubled by racism and corruption,
Italian football's image took another turn for the worst after Lazio president
Claudio Lotito revealed he had received "death threats" from scores
of fans after selling star player Hernanes to Inter Milan.
Hernanes, the Brazilian who arrived
at Rome-based Lazio in 2010, swapped the Italian capital for Milan at the end
of the January transfer window.
"Yesterday, I received between
50 to 70 to 80 telephone calls from pseudo-fans, in which they asked me to
leave Lazio and made death threats against me," Lotito told reporters.
"I live under escort," he
added. "The supporters are part of the club but now they have overstepped
the mark."
Hernanes became a firm favorite
among Lazio fans after joining the club from Sao Paulo; making over 100
appearances and helping the team win the 2013 Coppa Italia.
But, with his contract expiring at
the end of the current season, Hernanes would have been able to switch clubs
without Lazio commanding a transfer fee, leaving Lotito with no choice but to
sell the player.
"It was Hernanes' decision to
leave, so what could I do?" added Lotito. "He had an agreement with
Inter. If he had stayed, he would have been unhappy.
"He would have stayed here
unhappy until June, then gone off to the World Cup, then come back for a few
months and left on a free transfer.
"If you want to leave, you've
got to say so."
In recent years Italian football has
been troubled by racist chanting towards black players, while supporters use
football as an excuse to play out long-running spats between different parts of
Italy's cities as well as its regions.
Match fixing has also blighted
Italian football with leading club Juventus relegated to the second tier over
the Calciopoli scandal in 2006.
Lotito himself was banned from
football for two-and-a-half years for his involvement in the Calciopoli
scandal.
Hernanes, who has played 23 times
for his country, will hope to be part of Luiz Felipe Scolari's squad when
Brazil hosts the World Cup later this year.
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