Napoli XI cost as much as De Bruyne

By Football Italia staff

Kevin De Bruyne cost Manchester City as much as the entire Napoli starting XI put together, it has been calculated.

The two sides face off tonight in the Champions League and they are both currently leading their respective domestic leagues.

However, while Pep Guardiola and Maurizio Sarri have similar ideas of beautiful football, the cost of realising their vision has been wildly different.

Incredibly, De Bruyne alone cost €74m to sign from Wolfsburg in 2015 – as much as the entire Napoli starting XI put together.

The likely 11 players to start for Manchester City tonight cost the club a total of €487m, according to Goal.com, whereas Napoli’s squad was purchased for €74m.

Lorenzo Insigne counts as free because he came up through their youth academy.

The most expensive purchase was defender Raul Albiol, bought by predecessor Rafa Benitez, for €12m.

Manchester City squad: Ederson (€40m); Walker (€51m), Otamendi (€44m), Stones (€55m), Delph (€11m); Fernandinho (€40m), Sterling (€62m), De Bruyne (€74m), David Silva (€28m), Sane (€50m); Gabriel Jesus (€32m)

Napoli squad: Reina (€2m); Hysaj (€5m), Albiol (€12m), Koulibaly (€7m), Ghoulam (€5m); Allan (€11m), Jorginho (€9m), Hamsik (€5m); Callejon (€9m), Mertens (€9m), Insigne (€0m)

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