I'm Diego Maradona's son and once had a trial with an SPFL club – but I emulated my dad in a completely different way
The Argentine icon's son tried to launch a career in football in his own right in the early noughties and part of that journey included a stop at East End Park
Diego Maradona is widely considered to be the greatest footballer of all time. But his son? We’ll come to him in a bit.
After bursting onto the scene with Argentinos Juniors and Boca Juniors in the early 1980s, Maradona moved to Europe with Barcelona for a world record fee of £5 million in 1982, winning two cups and scoring 38 goals in 58 games in his two season at the Camp Nou. But it wasn't until he transferred to Napoli for another world record fee of £6.9million two years later that the midfield maestro's career began to really kick off.
Over the next seven seasons, Maradona led Gli Azzzuri to their first ever Serie A title in 1987, adding a second Scudetto three years later to go with triumphs in the UEFA Cup, Coppa Italia and Italian Super Cup. However, the football icon - who sadly passed away in November 2020 - crowning moment came in the summer of 1986, leading Argentina to glory in the World Cup in Mexico with some dazzling displays and a goal or two that are still talked about today.
And it was shortly after that tournament that "The Golden Boy" gave birth to a son through an affair with Naples local Cristiana Sinagra. Diego Armando Sinagra was born on September 20, 1986 and was raised by his mother after being shunned by his legendary father. It wasn't until a long battle through the Naples courts that he was finally legally recognised as Maradona's son in 1993, although he wouldn't actually go onto meet his father for another 10 years.
Maradona Jr had the mightiest of tasks in trying to emulate his father's incredible career in football, but was initially seen as a rising prospect in the Italian national team's youth-set up, and won a cap for his country at U17 level in 2001. And three years later, Maradona Jr's quest to try and to the grade took him all the way to Fife, where he landed a trial with Dunfermline, who had just qualified for Europe with a fourth place finish in the Scottish Premiership.
Press swarmed to East End Park to get a glimpse of Maradona Jr in action but Pars favourite Jim Leishman - who worked as the club's director of football at the time later detailed how the move did ultimately not come about. He said: "We made an offer for the laddie that we thought was fair for a laddie who hasn't played for the first team yet. But they thought it was derisory, so we're not going to pursue it."
Maradona Jr headed back to Italy to sign for second tier side Genoa, but ended up dropping into semi-professional football after not making a single first team appearance. He ultimately wasn't able to make a name for himself in professional football but did later become a successful player in 'beach soccer', winning more than 100 caps and scoring a goal for Italy in the 2008 World Cup final shortly after helping fire Napoli to the Scudetto on the sand.
Maradona Jr - who now coaches in Spain's regional divisions - admits his love for football meant he had to try to pursue a career in the sport, despite all the pressure and scrutiny that comes with his famous surname. The 40-year-old told FourFourTwo: "People have often compared me to my father, but that's superficial. He was unique, nothing compares to him. Why should I compare myself? Just because I was his son? Ludwig van Beethoven's son didn't play like his dad did he? They were two different people.
"My surname was a handicap, no doubt. Sometimes I was told, 'if you want to avoid all this attention, all you had to was not play football'. But I wanted to because I loved it!"
After years of failing to recognise his son, Maradona eventually began to try and have a relationship with him from 2007 until his death 13 years later and in 2016 said: "I'm happy that I've been reunited with my son. I love him a lot - he's very like me."