Napoli have slapped a stonking great price tag on midfielder Khvicha Kvaratskhelia after Premier League clubs scouted him on international duty.
It was recently reported that Newcastle United were among four Premier League clubs in attendance as Georgia were beaten 3-1 by Spain and it was believed that they were all there to cast an eye over Napoli star Khvicha Kvaratskhelia who has been wowing fans and pundits alike with his performances.
In the summer it was reported that Newcastle had made an £82million bid for the 22-year-old but there was very little to back up those claims and obviously the rumour turned out to not be true.
However, Calciomercato are now saying that anyone interested in Kvara would have to cough up even more than that to prise him away from Napoli.
Napoli of course won the Scudetta last season and that was enough to convince Kvara to stay, but this season they find themselves off the pace at the top of Serie A and clubs are ready to pounce.
However, any interested party is going to have to fork out upwards of €100million (£87million).
That's a fee that Newcastle simply cannot afford in January, but perhaps in the summer the purse strings may have loosened slightly. The £200million deal with Adidas kicks off next season, and Newcastle have been working on securing other partners to help increase income into the club and therefore break away from those pesky FFP restrictions.
Kvara is contracted to Napoli until 2027 and the club are already thinking of offering him an extension with improved pay to try and keep him around, but with Newcastle, Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Real Madrid and Barcelona all queueing up for him, it's going to be a tricky task.
As we said yesterday, this definitely has a summer move feel about it, for any club. Kvara will likely want to see how Napoli get on this season while other clubs will be biding their time for the fresh pot of transfer funds in the summer.
PL | GD | PTS | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Liverpool
|
7 | 11 | 18 |
2 |
Manchester City
|
7 | 9 | 17 |
3 |
Arsenal
|
7 | 9 | 17 |
4 |
Chelsea
|
7 | 8 | 14 |
5 |
Aston Villa
|
7 | 3 | 14 |
6 |
Brighton
|
7 | 3 | 12 |
7 |
Newcastle United
|
7 | 1 | 12 |
8 |
Fulham
|
7 | 2 | 11 |
9 |
Tottenham Hotspur
|
7 | 6 | 10 |
10 |
Nottingham Forest
|
7 | 1 | 10 |
11 |
Brentford
|
7 | 0 | 10 |
12 |
West Ham United
|
7 | -1 | 8 |
13 |
Bournemouth
|
7 | -2 | 8 |
14 |
Manchester United
|
7 | -3 | 8 |
15 |
Leicester
|
7 | -3 | 6 |
16 |
Everton
|
7 | -8 | 5 |
17 |
Ipswich
|
7 | -8 | 4 |
18 |
Crystal Palace
|
7 | -5 | 3 |
19 |
Southampton
|
7 | -11 | 1 |
20 |
Wolves
|
7 | -12 | 1 |