Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has fanned the flames of transfer talk linking Christian Pulisic to the new Italian champions.
His latest words come just one week after his side were crowned Serie A winners for the first time in 33 years and the summer for Napoli is already hotting up on several fronts. With Kim Min-Jae, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Victor Osimhen, De Laurentiis is in possession of three of the hottest properties out there.
Kim and Kvaratskhelia are two of the breakout stars of the season while Osimhen has only furthered his already lofting standing in European football with a stellar goalscoring season. The trio are all set to garner mass interest in the market with Chelsea among the teams circling for Osimhen.
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The Nigerian is set to command well over £100m this summer with Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Arsenal and the Blues all in the mix for his signature. De Laurentiis has already set his stall on that, though. “I will not sell Victor Osimhen this summer — no way," he said blunty.
The Italian film producer is notorious for being difficult to negotiate with and driving a hard line on transfers, he isn't one to be crossed by the faint hearted, as Chelsea have found previously. However, his comments on planned incomings to Napoli make for interesting reading.
Speaking to La Repubblica, he said: "Am I sure to keep everyone next season? Not only keep, I want to add others. I would like to have an American and a Japanese player. But I don't want to sell any of our players."
With Chelsea set for a mass exodus of stars this summer, including USMNT keystone Pulisic, De Laurentiis' mention of an American is intriguing and timely. The Daily Mail have already reported that Napoli were keen to add Pulisic to their squad with Juventus also in the conversation, too.
He was linked with a move to Italy last summer, being offered to the Old Lady in a swap deal for Matthijs de Ligt as well as in a double player plus cash transfer to AC Milan in return for Rafael Leao. Now, with Chelsea happy to offload his wages and place in the squad and Pulisic's own desire to forge the next chapter of his career at a promising, exciting Champions League side, it may open up the door to another high profile swap.
Although De Laurentiis has been tough on his Osimhen stance it would be unlike Chelsea not to at least explore the opportunity of a deal with the two moving ways.
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