“Ospina stays”.
That’s how Il Mattino open up their article about the Arsenal goalkeeper on Wednesday, looking at the Colombian’s situation at Napoli.
Loaned by the Gunners to the Serie A cub for the 2018-19 campaign, the 30-year-old had a clause to make the move permanent after 25 appearances, which he didn’t reach.
Falling just short of that number, there was a period when Napoli were unsure what to do with the goalkeeper despite Carlo Ancelotti publicly stating he wanted to keep the Colombia international around.
A decision, however, has now been made, as the local newspaper explain the Italians have made a ‘definitive decision’ on the player’s future, prepared to go into next season with three shot stoppers, as David Ospina will compete with Alex Meret and Orestis Karnezis.
Il Mattino believe the ‘agreement’ with Arsenal over the fee, expected to be lower than the €3.5m the automatic clause would have asked them to pay, is ‘close’.Ospina formed a strong relationship with starting goalkeeper Meret during his time in the south of Italy this season, and the club hope this can continue into the next campaign, helping the pair push each other to improve constantly.
