New Zenit St Petersburg signing Mimmo Criscito has explained his decision to move to Russia.

The former Genoa defender chose Zenit over Napoli this week.

"It would have been a dream for me to join Napoli," he told Sportitalia. "The San Paolo is one of the few stadiums that excites me.

"However, I didn't like some of the words of President Aurelio De Laurentiis, who said that I must join the club because the Azzurri jersey is a religion.

"Their economical offer was also low in respect to what I was earning at Genoa."