The double shot in the barrel. The hat trick on the doorstep. And also a first, new offer from a club of the Pif fund for Victor Osimhen (Al-Ahli seems to be willing to invest around 80-90 million euros for the Nigerian: a figure still far from the requests and expectations of Aureli De Laurentiis). Victor, however, continues to wait for PSG. We’ll see. The Premier League, on the other hand, is tempting for Napoli, who are doing everything they can to please Conte, who also knows the English championship very well. And so, while waiting for the arrival of Romelu Lukaku in blue to be formalized (white smoke is expected between today and tomorrow and the arrival of Big Rom who moves to Napoli permanently, signing a three-year contract worth around 6.5 million euros per year with DeLa’s club), here is that the sports director Giovanni Manna has managed to secure another important operation across the Channel. And yet another is in pole position for the green light to be given. In order.
Napoli-Bologna 3-0: finally blue. Kvaratskhelia drags Conte
Scott McTominay is one step away from moving to the shadow of Vesuvius: a four-year contract is ready for him with an option (unilateral on the part of the blue club) to renew for another year. Manchester United, owner of the powerful Scottish midfielder’s registration rights, has accepted Napoli’s offer (30 million euros excluding bonuses, with a percentage on the future resale of the player) giving its approval to the transfer. The signature now seems to be only a question of details. Who knows if they are linked once again to image rights or to some pending issues with the Red Devils. Details, indeed. The fact is that the Napoli coach hopes to have the desired and requested reinforcements as soon as possible, starting from next Saturday’s match, again at the Maradona – again at night – against Fabio Pecchia’s surprising “rookie” Parma. McTominay represents an important injection of phosphorus and substance into the blue midfield. The Scotsman, who turned 27 last December, has an identikit that faithfully reflects Antonio Conte’s requests. His size (he is 191 centimeters tall) combined with good vision of the game and above all great confidence in front of goal did not go unnoticed by the Lecce coach and even less so by the sporting director, Manna, who returned from the United Kingdom yesterday (his imminent return to Great Britain is not excluded). The Lancaster grenadier grew up in the Manchester United youth system until he climbed the hierarchy and earned a place in the first team with the Red Devils. An important interdictor who also knows how to turn on… the switch in the goal area: last season with United he was able to score something like 10 goals, also adding three assists. He did the same with the Scottish national team, where he is the bulwark of the midfield designed by the selector Steve Clarke. With the Tartan Army, McTominay also played in the final phase of the last European championships in Germany.
The new playmaker
Same role, same nationality and probably the same destiny for Billy Gilmour. The 23-year-old playmaker from Brighton has had an agreement with sports director Manna for some time. The same goes for the English club that has accepted a figure close to 18 million for the young playmaker (on paper Lobotka’s alter ego) ready to sign a five-year contract with Napoli (about 2 million euros per season). The deal is virtually complete, but De Laurentiis’ club is probably also waiting to make some exits to make room for the squad of 23-24 players that Conte would prefer to work with. Among the potential departures is also Cyril Ngonge who is liked by Roma. Napoli is willing to negotiate, but excludes any technical counterpart. In short, if the Giallorossi want the versatile Belgian striker they must think about a purchase or at most a loan that includes the redemption at the end of the season. Ngonge and not only. Michael Folorunsho is liked on both sides of the Tiber, but even in this case the operation is held back by the loan formula that Napoli does not like. Walid Cheddira travels towards Espanyol, while from the Iberian championship the sports director Manna is taking information for the versatile winger Thierry Rendall Correia, 25 years old and playing for Valencia.
This article is originally published on .ilmattino.it
