Last week, news came out that Stoke City had made a bid for Napoli’s Manolo Gabbiadini as Mark Hughes continues to look to improve his team’s goalscoring ability.
Nearing the midway point of the season, having Joe Allen as your league top scorer really isn’t something you want as a manager, and a reinforcement is expected in January.
The Napoli striker isn’t in the best of form at the moment, which is why Napoli are trying to get rid of him, but Stoke are clearly confident they can change that if they are offering €18m, as reported by Il Mattino.
The local Italian newspaper make it clear the Premier League side have offered that amount to the Serie A side, but also that the amount has been rejected by Aurelio de Laurentiis, who is looking for around €23-24m for his struggling striker.
Such a fee is needed for Gabbiadini’s potential replacement, who looks increasingly likely to be Genoa’s Leonardo Pavoletti.
Gabbiadini, who was widely expected to step into Gonzalo Higuain’s position as main striker following the Argentinean’s departure to Juventus, has scored two goals in 16 appearances so far for Napoli this season.
He was left on the bench for their 5-0 win over Cagliari at the weekend, watching Dries Mertens score a hat-trick in a false nine role.
