Napoli have dumped the idea of signing Pierre Emile-Hojbjerg from Tottenham and Pablo Fornals from West Ham, in favour of a move for Leicester City’s Boubakary Soumaré.
That’s according to Corriere dello Sport, who say Napoli are holding ‘continuous contacts’ over the Leicester City man.
The newspaper explains that Napoli are looking to strengthen their midfield options this month and have been scouring Europe to find the ideal options for them.
They had looked at various options and one of those was Hojbjerg, who has been linked with a move away from Tottenham for months after barely featuring under Ange Postecoglou since his arrival.
However, Napoli found that it was not easy to make their standpoint meet with Tottenham’s, who are not yet contemplating accepting a loan deal with a purchase obligation included. That, therefore, made Napoli move away.
They also looked at the idea of move for Fornals, who is out of contract at West Ham in the summer and therefore could have been a cheap option to explore.
However, he still has a Premier League salary at West Ham and that put him out of Napoli’s reach, meaning they quickly moved on to Leicester’s Boubakary Soumaré.
He’s currently on loan at Sevilla but does not have ‘exaggerated costs’ and could, therefore, be available relatively cheaply.
The Leicester player has only featured in 55% of the available minutes in La Liga for Sevilla this season and despite featuring more regularly of late, there is a ‘temptation’ for him to break that and head to Italy instead.
Indeed, the newspaper states that he is letting himself be flattered by the interest and they even hint that his admission from the clash against Athletic Club Bilbao yesterday due to ‘personal problems’ could be a sign of his desire to change clubs.
Napoli, for their part, are watching from afar and have started negotiations from a distance, hoping to keep things quiet for now. The idea is there, though, and something which could develop over the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, claims in France on Friday state Soumaré should stay where he is for the rest of the season.
