Maradona returns to Italy despite tax storm

The Argentine World Cup winner, still an idol in Italy after leading Napoli to Serie A titles more than 20 years ago, will watch his former club in Udinese and then give a news conference on Tuesday.

Maradona was convicted in 2005 and ordered to pay 37.2 million euros ($50.4 million), including 23.5 million euros in interest for late payments.

But a court in November last year said there had been procedural errors and ordered a new investigation.

"Maradona is a free man and his image as a man on the run is an invention of journalists," his lawyer Angelo Pisani told AFP on Sunday.

Maradona has always insisted he is innocent.

"I am not a tax fraudster. I played football and other people signed for me," Maradona said last year.

"I am not afraid of returning to Italy. I never signed anything. The people who are really responsible are free and can walk around calmly in Naples and I can't. That's not fair," he said.

"I want to return to Italy as a gentleman because I never stole anything from anyone."

The player scored 115 goals in 259 matches for Napoli between 1984 and 1991.

Napoli have only won the Italian title twice -- in 1987 and 1990 -- with Maradona starring in both campaigns.