De Laurentiis: ‘Cavani must half salary’

By Football Italia staff

Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis won’t sign “old men” Karim Benzema and Angel Di Maria, while Edinson Cavani would have to “cut his salary in half”.

The Partenopei have been linked with a number of big names in recent days, so the owner appeared on Radio Kiss Kiss Napoli for a game of ‘true or false’.

“I like it, it’s a good idea,” De Laurentiis said of the game.

“We can’t take all the newspapers because there are so many lies.

“Di Maria and Benzema? Very much false. I’m very surprised because the Corriere dello Sport editor is experienced and I only wish good things for him. Is Antonio Giordano the only one I can trust to tell the truth?

“There’s an agreement between myself and [Coach Carlo] Ancelotti. Why would I sign these two old men, with all due respect? I don’t have to please the fans, they play football in the bar, I respect them but they need to stay calm and let us work.

“The Corriere dello Sport front page is ridiculous.

“Youssouf Sabaly has signed? False! He got injured, how can I sign someone who is injured?

“D’Ambrosio? False! He’s not coming. The possibility of Benzema is not remote, it’s very remote.

“Cavani? He earns €20m gross every two months. He’s brilliant, but I don’t think he’ll halve his salary.

“If Cavani were to call me and tell me he’s ok to cut his salary in half and fit the Napoli wage structure, great.

“Qatar is behind Paris Saint-Germain, they seek to get rich in real estate so they have to keep the politicians. But I decided to treat football the way I treat making films.

“Falcao? False! He doesn’t score anymore, it’s fake news.

“Roberto Insigne to Benevento? True. Amato Ciciretti to Sampdoria? We’ll see. The third goalkeeper? We’re looking at it.

“A deal with Cavani? Absolute nonsense! What kind of idiot goes to Paris by helicopter? You take a jet.

"Di Maria done? Absolute nonsense! False, very much false.

“Ancelotti resigning before the start of the season? Complete and utter nonsense!

“We’ll pay €8.5m a season for Cavani? If that was gross we could do it, but no-one makes any sacrifices for the God of money. I don’t believe in doing that, I’m the first to say it.

“I don’t think Edinson can do that accounting. It’s a suggestion which is born out of love, but I doubt it. We need to think about the next five years, we have to look after [Arkadiusz] Milik who has been injured twice.

“We also have a project with [Roberto] Inglese. When [Dries] Mertens arrives before the Liverpool game we’ll see that we already have a plethora of strikers.

“Ancelotti will have to evalaute, we’ll see what he tells us and then there will be another 20 days to do something, if we need to.”

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