Crystal Palace-bound Daichi Kamada has admitted that he planned to stay at Lazio but conceded that his insistence on getting a one-year deal contributed to his impending departure.
Kamada has a verbal agreement in place to join Crystal Palace this summer and will soon undergo a medical at the club this week.
Oliver Glasner convinced the player, who he previously coached at Eintracht Frankfurt, to move to Selhurst Park.
However, Kamada insisted that his original plan was to stay in Italy but indicated that negotiations with Lazio and their president, Claudio Lotito, were complicated.
The Japanese midfielder stressed that he was happy with the money Lazio offered but he was only keen to sign a one-year deal over a long-term contract.
Kamada told Japanese outlet Football Zone: “It is 100% decided that I will leave Lazio.
“I had planned to stay from the beginning, but Italy is like Italy, and the president of Lazio is particularly famous in Italy, so it’s difficult.
I intended to stay, and I told the manager that I would stay, but the negotiations did not come to an agreement.
“I just wanted a one-year contract, and I was getting enough money so I didn’t ask for anything.
“That’s where things didn’t work out.
“I don’t know what my agent said to the team, but I just wanted a one-year contract.”
Lotito lashed out at Kamada for his decision to leave the club and branded him a mercenary for choosing to move on.
