Needing a bit of reinforcement in attack, Napoli turned their attention to a former Serie A student in the January transfer window by signing Hamed Traoré on loan from AFC Bournemouth.
The Ivory Coast international appeared more than happy to leave Andoni Iraola’s side and return to Italy, and he is slowly integrating his new team, having started three of their last four games.
He has been used in a deeper position by Francesco Calzona, which appears to be working, and Corriere dello Sport suggest a deal could be struck with Bournemouth, but certainly not at the €25m that were agreed when the original loan was finalised.
This shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone who knows anything about Napoli, as they have done this a number of times in the past with various loans from the Premier League, such as André-Frank Zambo Anguissa or Tanguy Ndombele.
It worked with the former, but certainly did not for the latter, and we now have to wait and see what Bournemouth’s stance is in all this.
Corriere explain that Napoli will continue to assess Traoré over time, but the €25m that the Cherries expect are ‘still considered many, too many’.
They add that the ‘paths of negotiation are infinite’, and it will entirely depend on what Bournemouth want to do, with that being sitting down for talks or just accepting that he will return.
On paper, however, the player falls ‘within the parameters’ of what Napoli are looking for, as he is ‘young, versatile and considered interesting’ by those in charge of transfers there, but 11 league games between now and the end of the season ‘may not be enough’ to convince.
