But he's happy in Naples, he told Serie A Lega: "I miss my home every day, but now I feel that my home is in Italy and above all in this city, where people live for football. You can see that the fans are happy when they watch football and that's incredible because you don't see it anywhere else, I have to say. The way the fans treat me, the way the fans love me, it's a great thing.
"Football is everything for me, it's my life, there's no doubt about it. I played with my friends in the street every time I left the house, even after training I was there playing with them. I took my first steps in street football, that's where I grew up. I think you can see it in the way I play. On the street you make a lot of touches, you love having the ball at your feet. And even now that I play on real pitches, in big stadiums, I still try to play like I did on the street. The streets raised me as a football player, they were inspirational.
"When I was 8 I started playing in a real club, in a good Academy, then at 11 I moved to the great academy of Dinamo Tbilisi. I spent five years there, it's a great academy, there are great players who could play at a very high level. I lived there and everyone in the club helped me a lot. When I was a child I watched many Serie A matches. I knew that the Italian defenders were the best in the world. In Georgia when you talk about Italian football you immediately think of the great defenders.
"(Diego) Maradona? He was one of the best players in the history of football. I think it's crazy that there are people comparing me to him or trying to. For me it's obviously a pleasure and I'm happy with all this. When you play in the team where Maradona played it's a pleasure. Before coming here my father always told me that Maradona was the best ever, he was his idol."