Once heavily linked with Chelsea, the story surrounding a potential Elseid Hysaj exit from Napoli went somewhat quiet over the past few weeks after Carlo Ancelotti explained he still counted on the Albania international.
Starting on the bench in four of the past give games, the 24-year-old felt like he was being pushed to one side, which his agent was very vocal about.
Despite his manager’s reassurances over the festive period, nothing changed in their first game back after the break against Lazio, as the right-back was once again on the sidelines, eventually coming on for a couple of minutes at the end of the their 2-1 win.
According to Il Mattino, this didn’t go down well with both Hysaj and his agent, leading the latter to ‘retie the knots’ with last summer’s ‘interrupted’ negotiations with Chelsea.
However, the Blues, currently in a bit of a difficult spell, are said to be unwilling to put forward the same amount as six months ago, preferring a loan for the rest of the season.
The Italian newspaper explain such a deal ‘doesn’t please’ Aurelio de Laurentiis, meaning we’re back to where we were a few weeks ago.
A lot will undoubtedly rest on what happens with both Victor Moses and Davide Zappacosta, who have been linked with moves away from Stamford Bridge in January, but unless Chelsea pay up front, we can’t see the Napoli owner agreeing to anything.
That’s just the way he is.
