Napoli were keen on signing Antonín Kinský before he completed a move to Tottenham Hotspur earlier this month.
Three days ago, the goalkeeper’s agent, Viktor Kolář, stated Spurs chairman Daniel Levy personally convinced his client over the north London club move.
Slavia Prague sporting director Přemysl Kovář has given an interview to Live Sport, where he revealed Napoli wanted the new Tottenham signing.
Antonio Conte has Alex Meret as first-choice stopper, and he has less than six months left on his deal. The Serie A side are expecting their player leave at the end of this season and had identified Kinský as a target to replace him.
According to Kovář, his side were hoping to keep Kinský at least until the end of this season. He claims Napoli wanted to sign him and then send the 21-year-old back on loan, but they lost the young talent to Tottenham in the end.
“The priority was to agree on a transfer now in the winter, with Tonda [Kinský] staying on loan until the end of the season,” he said.
“Napoli came in with the idea of losing their number one in the summer and wanted to secure Tonda, but then Tottenham stepped in and wanted to do it right away. It’s hard to turn down that kind of interest.”
The Slavia Prague official says he and his side were surprised with Tottenham’s approach and mentioned this when asked how Spurs managed to beat Napoli.
“We were a bit surprised at the beginning, but Tottenham’s interest was really big,” Kovář explained.
“Their owner Daniel Levy came to negotiate the transfer, so it quickly got to a level where the negotiations were between [Slavia president Jaroslav] Tvrdík and Mr Levy and then it was quite dynamic.
“By the time it was obvious that Tonda was going to leave, Tvrdík and Martin Riha still did a great job and topped the whole transfer off by agreeing an incredible final transfer fee with Tottenham. Thanks to them, it is what it is.”
