Napoli have cooled talks of Gonzalo Higuain's reported move to Juventus after admitting no club wants to pay the 94.7m euros ($105m) buyout clause in the Argentine star's contract. Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis and Juventus CEO Giuseppe Marotta failed to reach any agreement during preliminary talks on the striker on Monday.
And De Laurentiis admitted Tuesday the buyout clause in Higuain's contract, which expires in 2018, could see last season's Serie A 'Capocannoniere' (top scorer) kick off the new season at the San Paolo stadium. "No club wants to pay the buyout clause, he will not be going to Juventus and so will remain at Napoli," De Laurentiis told the club's radio station Kiss Kiss.
"I raised the amount of the clause because I don't want to sell. He has a long contract and I won't concede. "When he (Higuain) returns to (the club's pre-season training complex) Dimaro on July 25, I will tell him 'welcome back'." He added: "I asked Marotta if he wants to pay the buyout clause. He told me he's not even thinking about it." Italian sports media, however, believe Juve's pursuit of Higuain is far from over - and could be determined by Paul Pogba's possible move to Manchester United. The Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport suggested Juve are waiting to offload star midfielder Pogba, who reports said could join United for 125m euros, before making their next move.
Comments
Comments are closed.