Napoli sporting director Giovanni Manna has confirmed they made an offer for Manchester United’s Alejandro Garnacho in the winter market.
The Serie A club’s official has been speaking to the Italian media today to discuss their business in the recently concluded window and Corriere dello Sport have relayed his comments.
Last month, multiple claims stated Napoli wanted to sign the Manchester United player to replace Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who moved to Paris Saint-Germain on January 17th.
Manna has now revealed the Naples club had tried to sign Garnacho even before they sold the Georgian to PSG. Chelsea also showed interest in the 20-year-old forward who is still at Old Trafford.
The director explained the Argentina international and Borussia Dortmund’s Karim Adeyemi were concrete options for Antonio Conte’s side in January.
“We also dealt with him [Granacho] before the sale of Kvara. We work by characteristics. Garnacho was really credible, we were close, like with Adeyemi,” he said.
“We don’t want to create expectations and throw smoke in the eyes. We are sorry that everything we try comes out, you are probably good. When things change during the course I am sorry. Let’s stay focused and not get lost in negativity.”
The Napoli representative further explained their proposal came close to the fee requested by Manchester United without mentioning any figures. The operation for Garnacho didn’t go ahead partly because of his salary demands.
“There were many who didn’t leave. We dealt with Garnacho even before Kvara’s departure,” Manna explained.
“We made an important offer and came close to United’s demands. The player wanted to be satisfied financially, but I didn’t find that fair to the other players. We have an average wage level.”
Garnacho managed eight goals and six assists from 36 games this season.
In the last window, Manchester United let Antony and Marcus Rashford go out on loan to Real Betis and Aston Villa respectively and didn’t bring in another attacker.