Reluctant to spend that much real money in January, Napoli decided to go down the loan with an option to buy for a couple of players, including AFC Bournemouth’s Hamed Traorè.
The winger had been previously bought from Sassuolo by the Cherries, so a return to Serie A was never going to be too much trouble for the Ivory Coast international, who had struggled to convince Andoni Iraola at the Vitality Stadium.
The 24-year-old has only made the one appearance to date, in the recent 1-1 draw against Genoa, but Gazzetta dello Sport do suggest there is a chance the loan could be made permanent by Napoli, buying him from Bournemouth on one condition.
It is quite an important one, seeing as it involves them qualifying for the Champions League, which appears to be a tricky feat to achieve, as they currently sit ninth in the table with 14 games to go, nine points off Atalanta in fourth.
It’s not impossible, but Gazzetta do say that while the Bournemouth player is on loan for free, the €25m price to make the move permanent is ‘very high’.
Therefore, without qualification into the Champions League, that amount is ‘too much’, and the forward would end up returning to the Premier League side at the end of the season unless some sort of discount were to be negotiated.
