Defending Serie A champions Napoli haven’t given up on the pursuit of Stuttgart defender Konstantinos Mavropanos. According to Calciomercato, the Greek center-back is still in Aurelio De Laurentiis’ crosshairs as the search for Kim Min-jae’s successor continues.
The 26-year-old’s departure earlier in the summer has left a gaping void in Rudi Garcia’s backline. The new Bayern Munich star was one of the architects of the Partenopei’s first Scudetto since 1990 last season. Therefore, Napoli cannot afford to lose a player of his stature without signing a replacement.
Numerous candidates have emerged in the past few weeks. Borussia Monchengladbach’s Ko Itakura and Wolverhampton’s Max Kilman have been the subjects of the Italians’ interest. So has been Mavropanos, the 25-year-old Greece international, who swapped Arsenal for Stuttgart in 2020.
While the Wolves stalwart commands a significant price tag, Garcia isn’t convinced with Itakura. Mavropanos could be an ideal balance between cost and quality. Napoli would have to allocate around €20 million to get Stuttgart’s go-ahead. But based on the Greek’s performances in the past three years in Germany, that’s a reasonable price.
At least Napoli seem to be having that opinion. Mavropanos’ price tag would take only 40% of what the southern giants received from Min-jae’s switch to the Bundesliga. But since De Laurentiis has yet to make his move, there’s still room for speculation.
Lens’ Kevin Danso is another exciting prospect for Napoli. They reportedly put forward a formal bid to sign the 24-year-old earlier this week.
 |
Follow us on Google News for more updates on Serie A and Italian football |