On Monday, Gazzetta dello Sport journalist Nicolo Schira caused a bit of Arsenal Twitter excitement when he reported the Gunners were interested in signing Napoli’s Lorenzo Insigne.
A scout from the Premier League side was said to have attended the Serie A side’s encounter against Chievo at the weekend in which the Italian forward scored a goal and assisted another, which led to Schira claiming Arsenal were ‘set to open talks with Napoli’.
#Arsenal is set to open talks with Napoli for Lorenzo #Insigne. Gunners scouts have watched him yesterday against Chievo #transfers #AFC
— Nicolò Schira (@NicoSchira) February 20, 2017
Over in Naples, Aurelio de Laurentiis is said to be working hard to get Insigne to sign a renewed deal, with the club offering €3.2m/year, while Insigne is said to want €5m.
Il Mattino have a bit of an update on this on Wednesday, and it won’t please those in the Arsenal fanbase who got excited about the news.
The Italian newspaper claim the reported Arsène Wenger target ‘wants to stay at Napoli for life’, and could even end up being the club’s future captain once Marek Hamsik moves on or retires.
While this doesn’t mean a potential deal is off, it seems a lot rests on either party’s willingness to negotiate, with De Laurentiis known for his stubbornness.
However, the love the Napoli fanbase have for ‘Il Magnifico’ should certainly help convince Napoli that pleasing one of their big stars is the right thing to do.
That, and the fact he has scored nine goals and picked up eight assists in 33 games this season.
