Napoli and Fabian Ruiz have put the talks about a new contract on hold until the season is over, according to AS.

It remains to be seen how and when the season in Italy will be resolved with the Mediterranean country currently among the most heavily hit by the Coronavirus outbreak, and there’s a huge number of questions regarding players’ contracts across the world that will need to be answered soon. However, it seems that the media in Spain, also a country hit extremely heavily by the notorious virus, believe that the holdup in the talks is merely due to the interest of Real Madrid and Barcelona in the midfielder’s services.

The report quotes the 23-year-old’s agent Alvaro Torres in saying that Ruiz has been on object of interest for a number of ‘important’ clubs, as well as in pointing to the fact that Napoli have had a difficult season, with Carlo Ancelotti getting sacked and replaced by Gennaro Gattuso.