Liverpool have been warned there is no chance of Napoli selling Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in January and that the winger is likely to command an €100m fee when the Serie A outfit do decide to cash in by the Georgia international’s agent.
The 21-year-old joined Napoli from Dinamo Batumi in an £8.6m transfer this summer after his contract at Rubin Kazan was suspended due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Having shone back in his homeland, he has gone on to be a standout player in both Serie A and the Champions League this season, scoring eight goals and registering 10 assists from just 17 appearances.
Only Marko Arnautovic and Victor Osimhen have scored more than the winger’s six goals in Serie A this season, while his seven assists are the joint-highest in the league along with Sergej Milinkovic-Savic. Meanwhile, only Rafael Leao can better his total of three Champions League assists, with his return the same number as the likes of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Serge Gnabry.
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Such form has seen him linked with Liverpool and a number of other top European clubs, with the Reds getting a first-hand look at the Georgian in the Champions League this season as he put in eye-catching performances both in Naples and at Anfield. Meanwhile, he'd earn praise from Jurgen Klopp after Tuesday night's game.
And while one of Kvaratskhelia’s agents, who worked on Rubin Kazan’s previous failed attempts to sell him, hinted that such speculation was true, he believes a number of clubs will be kicking themselves at not snapping up the winger ahead of Napoli with his price-tag set to sky-rocket.
“Most of the clubs you heard in the media in Germany, England and Italy, this was true. They were all interested in him,” said agent Christian Emile when speaking Fabrizio Romano's YouTube channel . “We had maybe three or four concrete video calls between the club, the player and the player's agent, from big clubs in Italy and in England, before he went to Napoli.
“All the clubs saying, 'we want you, we want to do the deal. We're just waiting until the end of the season to see where we are. If we're in the Champions League, Europa League, if we have the budget’. All these kind of excuses to take time before making a decision.
“They always had this doubt that the price was too high for a player of his profile. Those clubs have missed a huge opportunity. I hope now that when us as agents propose players from countries that don't have a big tradition of players in the big leagues, clubs will take them more seriously.
“You never know where this talent is coming from, you never know where the next big thing is. Mohamed Salah is coming from Egypt. Who would have thought a player from Egypt would be the best player in the world or one of the best players in the world.
“Football is global, you can never discount a player because of which country he is coming from. Khvicha is the case, I'm very happy for him because he's a fantastic boy and an unbelievable player.”
He continued: “You know what's crazy, he's done what he's been doing in Russia and Europe for the past couple of years. He's come to Napoli, he's been unbelievable, and people are talking about over €100m (£86.7m). He's already been doing it.
“For me, if he continues to perform like this until the end of the season and does it again next season, because I don't see Napoli selling him now. There's a 0% chance [in January]. But if he continues as he is doing now until the end of the season and replicates the same for next season, he will reach €100m (£86.7m) for sure.
“If Napoli didn't move first and they waited a little bit longer into the summer, he would have been sold for more money. This summer everyone recovered from the covid situation. His price already came down a little bit. I think there would have been more teams coming in for him. Napoli moved first and they are drinking the champagne and having the rewards.”
Working closely with Rubin Kazan, Emile confirmed that a number of clubs had previously been put off by the Russian club’s €20m asking-price in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic as he explained why a transfer for Kvaratskhelia hadn’t happened sooner.
“Rubin were, in the beginning, asking for €20m which now looks like a bargain,” he said. “A bargain for a player of his calibre. Kvara had offers from Europe but they were not at the level that Rubin were expecting in the summer of 2021. Less than €10m. Their valuation was higher and fair enough. He was worth more than that.
“Kvaratskhelia did it in the national team as well. For me that made it also surprising that clubs didn't really pick up on it. He tore apart Spain in one of the matches, he was the best player on the pitch and scored a goal in that game against Spain.
“It's important to stress the Covid situation made the difference. If clubs weren't under pressure financially, maybe somebody would have gone ahead with the deal. It was the height of Covid and a lot of teams were not looking to spend money.
“A lot of teams were especially not looking to spend money on players who were not deemed ready or guaranteed to have an impact immediately. If you look at the perspective of a German or English club, why should they go all the way to Russia, in a league which they're not so familiar with, even though there has been some good players coming out of Russia, and spend a big transfer fee on a player from Georgia?
“With all due respect to Georgian players, there is not a big track record of Georgian players coming to Europe and doing well apart from Kaladze and maybe Shota Arveladze. This is why I think sides didn't take concrete interest in him.
“Eventually when his name came about and we started proposing him more and more, people considered quality. Clubs saw the quality. However, there is a difference between understanding the quality and putting the money down.
“At that time Rubin were asking €20m. Now everybody can say he is worth much more than that, but even at that time, he had been playing senior football for three years. His statistics, he was scoring at least four or five goals a season. Assisting five goals a season.
“For a young boy in a strong league, it's not bad. It's not fantastic but it's not bad. Clubs were not so secure to spend this £20m in covid times on a player they don't have much background information about because he's not coming from a big football country."
He continued: “In general, European clubs are not looking to buy from the Russian league. They are more looking at players in Europe or the more guaranteed markets of South America or Scandinavia. That's their priority, countries where players have a track record of coming from and doing well in the major five leagues.
“He's not coming from Brazil. If he was a Croatian or Serbian player, he would have been sold at that time and for more money than he was sold for in the end. Only because Croatian players, they have a big track record of moving to the big five leagues and doing well.
“Mykhaylo Mudryk, they're talking €40m-€50m. Kvaratskhelia we were talking €20m and no-one really made the concrete step until Napoli came in. It's very frustrating when you hear from clubs in Europe that it was too risky to spend this money.
“'How many Georgians have done well in Europe? We don't want to take the risk.' It's very frustrating and unfortunate that some clubs think like that because they are missing opportunities. I can guarantee you now a lot of clubs will come to Georgia and watch players now.”
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