At this point, Napoli fans must be sick of Arsenal. The Serie A giants and the Gunners have locked horns in pursuit of a number of players over the last two years, and it has been the Premier League side who have come out on top every time.
Lucas Torreira, Bernd Leno, Kieran Tierney and Nicolas Pepe were all reportedly on Napoli’s radar, but Arsenal swooped in to complete deals for all of them.
History might repeat itself this summer. The two clubs are competing once again in this transfer window. Lille’s Gabriel Magalhaes is the prize at the end of the battle, and Napoli might just have to prepare themselves for more heartbreak.
Gianluca Di Marzio claimed last week that Napoli and Lille have a gentleman’s agreement in place for the transfer of the highly-rated Brazilian central defender.
However, that no longer seems to be the case. CalcioMercato claimed on Sunday that Gabriel and Arsenal have agreed terms over a potential transfer and that the Gunners’ £25 million offer for the 22-year-old satisfies Lille’s demands.
Napoli still haven’t given up on the Brazilian but, if reports are to believed, they are trailing in the race. Gennaro Gattuso’s side are eyeing another defender irrespective of what happens with Gabriel, and Arsenal could benefit from that deal too.
Napoli are eyeing a deal for Arsenal’s Sokratis
Alfredo Pedulla has claimed that the Italians are interested in signing Arsenal’s Sokratis Papastathopoulos this summer. The Greek international has fallen down the pecking order under Mikel Arteta, having featured for just three minutes since Project Restart.
Sokratis has less than a year left on his contract and Arsenal would prefer to get him off their books this summer. However, the report claims that the Gunners’ demands for a potential transfer are too much for Napoli at this point.
Arsenal paid £17.7 million for Sokratis just two years ago. (Guardian) Mikel Arteta’s side would like to recover a decent chunk of that fee. However, based on his age, form and lack of game time over the last few months, his market value is nowhere near what it was at the start of the year.
The report does claim that there is a good chance that a deal for Sokratis would be done this summer. That, arguably, is best for all parties involved and it would give Arsenal a big boost in their pursuit of signing Gabriel before the start of the new campaign.
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