Napoli have virtually closed the deal to sign Mattia Zaccagni from Hellas Verona, but the player is biding his time to see if Milan will make a move too. The midfielder has fully flourished this season, tallying 5 goals and 7 assists in 29 appearances and earning a call-up by Italy’s coach Roberto Mancini. The Partenopei were looking to secure the acquisition in January already, but they could not convince him to put pen-to-paper, Calciomercato.com reports.
The Azzurri have reached an agreement in principle thanks to a €16M offer. They unsuccessfully tried to orchestrate an operation like the one involving Amir Rrahmani last year, who was purchased in the Winter and allowed to finish the campaign with the Gialloblù.
Zaccagni is open to the destination but dreams of joining the Rossoneri, the site adds. His name has come up in the talks between the two clubs regarding center-back Matteo Lovato, but Milan have not opened a real negotiation to buy the midfielder. They are chasing after different targets in that role, such as Florian Thauvin and Josip Ilicic.
His agent Fausto Pari told Radio Kiss Kiss yesterday: “He is neither closer nor more distant to joining Napoli compared to a couple of months ago. The transfer market plans have been put on hold as teams are focusing on other aspects at the moment. Every agent is busy trying to find the team where his client can fit the best. Zaccagni is a natural box-to-box midfielder and Ivan Juric is using him well in other roles too.”