ADL: ‘Napoli bid for Tolisso’

By Football Italia staff

Aurelio De Laurentiis confirms Napoli made a “very big” offer for Lyon’s Corentin Tolisso, and wishes Gianluca Lapadula well.

The Partenopei President gave a lengthy interview to Radio Kiss Kiss Napoli, and was asked if he had a message for the club’s fans.

“I’m working for you, rest assured we’ll have a great season,” De Laurentiis said.

“Purchases have to be evaluated, verified. We already have a strong team, we have the best attack in Europe so it’s not easy to improve.

“I’m carefully considering every name, every negotiation. The latest offer I made - which was very big, much higher than the newspapers reported - was for Tolisso.

“He has important qualities which could be very useful in the next five years, but if he doesn’t want to come that’s his problem, we can’t hold a gun to anyone’s head.

“If [Lyon President Jean-Michel] Aulas says he’s not for sale, I’m not going to tear my hair out - what can I do about it?”

Gianluca Lapadula appeared to be on the verge of joining the Vesuviani, but last night he chose Milan and the deal will become official later today.

“We need to have people who are in love with the city of Naples, not the team. If there’s someone who is Italian and doesn’t have knowledge of the culture of everything here, that’s his problem and it doesn’t worry us.

“I want happy people, but I’d have done the same if I were in his shoes.

“He’ll have imagine having [Gonzalo] Higuain, [Manolo] Gabbiadini, [Dries] Mertens, [Jose] Callejon and the great Neapolitan [Lorenzo] Insigne - who we hope will start against Spain on Monday - ahead of him.

“He must have thought: ‘when will I play?’ That’s the wrong attitude though.

“Nobody understands that the game is divided in half based on the first half and the second half. If a player is subbed at the end of the first half he’s deemed to have failed - it’s not true!

“Only the Coach will know why he makes one choice and not another. Unfortunately in Italy there’s a culture of not disturbing those who are playing, and starting to make subs with just 20 minutes to go in the second half is a huge mistake!

“He’s no longer a kid, so Lapadula chose Milan because they’re a more [historically] successful team with more of an international following.

“I wish him well, because we have to hope that these youngsters who do well in their personal and professional lives get the dream they deserve.

“Dear Lapadula, you’ve done very well. Best wishes, and God protect you.”

Having expressed interest in Ciro Immobile this week, could Napoli now move for the Sevilla striker?

“That was an error on the part of the media, or journalists in general,” De Laurentiis clarified.

“I got a phonecall in Spanish, there was a lot of talk about Immobile and I jokingly said I was interested in getting Immobile for free.

“Immobile is a great player who would fit into a Napoli which played another way, but not [Maurizio] Sarri’s.

“If I’d really wanted Immobile, I’d have asked his agent who also represents Lapadula. We have Gabbiadini, who has the potential to get 30 goals in Serie A.

“Meanwhile, many thanks to the Spanish, who didn’t understand my jokes in Italian. They were punished from a linguistic point of view, they didn’t understand my words.

“Too bad for them.”

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