With all the talk surrounding the future of Kalidou Koulibaly, it would be foolish of Napoli not to prepare for their star’s departure, even if that doesn’t appear to be close just yet.
They had their sights set on Gabriel Magalhães, who eventually went to Arsenal, but with him out the window, they are looking at other, cheaper alternatives.
One of those happens to play for the Gunners, and his name, as you probably already know, is Sokratis Papastathopoulos.
The Greek centre-back has been linked with a move to Italy for a couple of weeks now, and Napoli appears to be the destination he favours, knowing both Kostas Manolas and Gennaro Gattuso there.
Both Gazzetta dello Sport and Corriere dello Sport talk about it on Wednesday, with the former of the two claiming the player has ‘already giving his availability’ to the former Milan midfielder, who so happens to be an ex-teammate of his.
His wages of €3.9m a year are a bit much for the Serie A side, but ‘he would be prepared to return to Italy and lower his wages’.
What he would also be prepared to do is become a free agent, much like Henrikh Mkhitaryan did to get a move to AS Roma, and if he manages it, then Napoli will make a move for him.
That’s corroborated by Corriere dello Sport, who report the defender ‘is trying to free himself from Arsenal’.
His contract with the Gunners is set to expire in 2021, but it seems, having been pushed to one side by Mikel Arteta, the Greek would like to leave earlier than that.
We’ll have to wait and see what happens, but with the arrival of Gabriel and Mkhitaryan given the green light to free himself, it would be a tad unfair if the 32-year-old wasn’t allowed to follow in the Armenian’s footsteps.
