Chelsea player now club’s ‘number one goal’ – Agreement on transfer fee could be reached ‘in a short time’

Of all the years Emerson Palmieri has been linked with a return to Serie A, this summer appears to be the right one.

That’s because his contract at Chelsea expires in 2022, and there are a couple of clubs desperate for his services back in Italy.

Napoli are one of them, with Gazzetta dello Sport claiming the left-back is now the club’s ‘number one goal’ in the transfer window for that position.

The Serie A side are ‘moving in that direction’, with the contacts between the parties ‘going on for weeks now’.

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They appear to be going well, as well, since ‘an agreement could also be reached on the transfer fee in a short time’.

The two sides aren’t too far apart, with Chelsea requesting around €15m, while Napoli want €3-4m of that shaved off ‘considering his contact is due to expire in June 2022’.

That’s not the main issue, however since the real problem could be his wages, which currently stand at €4.5m a year in London.

While Aurelio De Laurentiis is being rather cautious with his spending this summer, the fact Luciano Spalletti seems to have requested the purchase personally’ could cause him to splash out a bit more.