Napoli Could Soon Lose Another Important Player As The Club Shop Around For An Osimhen Replacement
Written By Onyeka Daniel
After winning the Scudetto last season, it hasn’t really gone well for Italian side, Napoli. The Partenopei have really struggled on the pitch this season, almost out of the Scudetto race.
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They are rather embroiled in a top four race and it’s not looking really good on that front either as they lie 9th on the Serie A table, 4 points behind Atalanta who occupy the 4th place and have been unable to string together some positive results, under Rudi Garcia and new manager, Walter Mazzari.
To add to that, the club president, Aurelio De Laurentiis recently announced that their top striker, Victor Osimhen will be leaving the club and another Scudetto star, Piotr Zielinski will also depart when his contract expires in the summer.
Now, the Partenopei might soon have another thorny extension on their plate, as the talks with the camp of Khvicha Kvaratshkelia haven’t been fruitful after the verbal skirmishes last summer.
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The Georgian is tied to the club until 2027, but he makes just €1.4M, earning less than Diego Demme (€2.5M), who has basically never played in the last two seasons, and newcomer Jesper Lindstrom (€1.8M), who has struggled to fit in. President Aurelio De Laurentiis has often preached patience on the matter, but his entourage is starting to put pressure.
Napoli recently offered to triple the current wages of Kvaratskhelia, but the response was negative, according to reports, with his agent Mamuka Jugeli asking for €7/8M a season. He caused a stir in the last weeks, suggesting Osimhen was bound to leave to pursue a bigger payday despite penning a renewal.
The Nigerian striker hit back at the representative. However, he clearly alluded to his exit in an ensuing interview. The 22-year-old hasn’t lived up to last season’s standards so far. He’s still one of the main driving forces of their attack, though. He has tallied 5 goals and 5 assists in 28 appearances.
With Osimhen and Zielinski set for the exit door, a Kvaratskhelia exit soon after could spell doom for the current Serie A defending champions, but that exit will definitely not be in the coming summer transfer window as he still has 3yrs left on his current deal with the club.
Meanwhile…
Napoli have four players on their shortlist to replace striker Osimhen. According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, the money earned from Osimhen’s sale will be used to sign a new, established striker.
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While the last few weeks will be vital for the sort of targets Napoli would look at depending on where they finish, but Aurelio de Laurentiis would still look at the best possible target.
Jonathan David is liked by the club since last summer and Napoli have previously enquired about the Canada international. But the name that they are most keen on is Bayer Leverkusen’s Victor Boniface.
While Leverkusen see him as untransferrable, but Napoli will have enough funds to sit on the table and negotiate. Joshua Zirkzee’s name is also on the shortlist but the Champions League will be an important factor in the race for him. Another name is Feyenoord’s Santiago Gimenez.
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