Despite their current injury troubles, Napoli have bid farewell to Kostas Manolas, who has moved to Olympiacos. The defender took the medicals today, and the parties later announced to have agreed on the terms of the transfer. It will become effective at the start of the January window. However, the 30-year-old is already in Greece and will not partake in the next two matches.
Welcome back home, Kostas! ?⚪️? #Olympiacos #Manolas #ManolasIsBack #ManolasReturns pic.twitter.com/V16zP0J2C5
— Olympiacos FC (46?) (@olympiacosfc) December 16, 2021
The center-back already wanted to return to his old team in the summer. However, Luciano Spalletti, who had already coached him at Roma, convinced him to stay. Manolas later ceded his starting job next to Kalidou Koulibaly to Amir Rrahmani. He has played just 12 minutes in the last 12 matches, also due to multiple physical problems.
According to Sky Sport, Olympiacos will pay a small fee to Napoli, around €2/3M plus add-ons. Manolas penned a three-year contract and accepted a sizeable pay cut. He will earn one-third of what he was making with the Azzurri, from €4.5M to €1.5M annually. He left the Partenopei after two-and-a-half seasons, where he accumulated 75 appearances and scored 4 times. The defender joined from Roma in a €36M deal in 2019.
With Koulibaly currently on the shelf with a thigh injury and about to leave for the African Cup of Nations, Napoli will rely on Rrahmani and Juan Jesus for the time being. They will look for a new center-back in the upcoming transfer market session. They have shown interest in Augsburg’s Felix Uduokhai, Nicolò Schira reports.