ADL: 'Nobody leaves Napoli'

By Football Italia staff

Aurelio De Laurentiis insists he turned down offers for Napoli stars Kalidou Koulibaly, Dries Mertens, Ivan Strinic, Emanuele Giaccherini and Jorginho.

The patron had a lengthy interview with Il Mattino today, you can read the rest here and here.

“I said no again for Koulibaly, they asked us for Mertens and Strinic. They also asked us for Giaccherini, Jorginho… I received a lot of requests, but nobody is moving,” said the President.

“Faouzi Ghoulam has a problem with his representation, I think his brother has returned now: we’ll talk about a renewal in pre-season training.”

De Laurentiis was then asked whether it was superstition preventing him from mentioning a Scudetto challenge.

“Sooner or later we’ll win it. Better sooner than later: we’ve all got to make a push, even the media who support us. Eyes open and alert for those who don’t want us to win: there’s always some malevolent person out there.

“I feel the system provides us certain guarantees. I think they understand we’re not dumb here and if something does happen, we’ll make it tough to beat us.

“Inter are reinforcing, let’s not forget that (new director Walter) Sabatini knows football well and Luciano Spalletti is a fine Coach. Next year we’ll have a completed revolutionised Inter, as they invested a lot of money to change many things.

“We would’ve had to sell Mertens and Lorenzo Insigne to make such changes, but why do that? Milan invested €120m, but I don’t know if they are as strong as Inter. I’ll be pleased if the Milan clubs, Juventus, Roma and Napoli end up fighting for the Scudetto. Then let the best side win, and it could well be Napoli.”

Fans have complained that De Laurentiis hasn’t invested the same amount as the other Serie A giants, but he insists he’s overspent.

“I paid Insigne more than I should’ve, but because I wanted to prove to everyone that we were ready. I almost put him in a position to annoy us, but at the end of the day he wanted Napoli and I got convinced. I preferred paying a bit more, because he deserved it.

“I read a lot of stupid things on our defeat to Real Madrid, but I was angry that day with the team and not with Sarri: everyone except Insigne looked as if they were there on vacation.

“Maurizio has to understand that everyone does their own job. If I invest certain sums, I want to see who I paid for actually playing. If we calculate, I spent €170m compared to the €90m earned for Gonzalo Higuain.”

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