On Thursday morning we covered a claim from Diario de Noticias of a ‘total turnaround’ in the Rui Patricio case, with the Sporting goalkeeper now said to be ‘much closer’ to signing for Wolves than Napoli.
The reasoning from the Portuguese newspaper was that Carlo Ancelotti, Napoli’s new manager, prefers Alphonse Areola or Bernd Leno instead.
Those claims have made their way to Naples and clearly annoyed some in the local media, including Raffaele Auriemma.
The journalist is quoted by CalcioNapoli24 as saying: “Rui Patricio to Napoli breaking down? But do you think the boy prefers to play with Ancelotti or to go and fight against relegation with Wolverhampton? From Portugal they tell me that talk of the English club is only a way to hurry Napoli to close the agreement.”
That doesn’t quite fit right with the claims, it wasn’t stated Patricio is actively choosing Wolves over Napoli, but that Ancelotti is the one getting cold feet. Therefore if it’s not true, Napoli would surely know that and not be rushed one bit.
Indeed, it would be a rubbish way to rush the Italian club. The Portuguese press are far better at such tactics than presenting something which clearly won’t work. Wolves claims may well be nonsense, but not for the reasoning Auriemma is giving.
