Serie A giants Napoli have been told they were “lucky” not to sign Manchester United winger Alejandro Garnacho during the winter transfer window.
During the January window, Man Utd were working with a tight budget and focused on outgoings to free up funds for signings as they are second in our Premier League net spend table.
The Red Devils struggled to offload their unwanted talents as they are short of valuable stars. Marcus Rashford and Antony were the only players let go as they left to join Aston Villa and Real Betis on loan.
Man United made most of their squad available for a transfer, and Garnacho was one player they were willing to let go because his pure profit sale would have been useful.
The Premier League giants reportedly wanted around £60m to offload Garnacho amid interest from Napoli, who were in the market for a winger to replace Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. He joined Paris Saint-Germain in January’s second most expensive transfer.
Speaking after the winter window closed, Napoli sporting director Gioanni Manna explained why they failed to sign Garnacho, who has been accused of “sulking” in recent weeks.
“Garnacho is a player that we like and we have liked,” Manna said.
“We considered him even before Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s departure. We met. We made a very important offer to United. We came close to their demands, very close.”
He added: “In order to leave the Premier League in January, because in July it is different, the player [Garnacho] probably wanted to be satisfied financially.
“It’s something which we can’t do right now, we are no willing to do and I don’t think it is right.
“When you have an average salary within the dressing room and I bring in a young player that earns a medium to high salary, I don’t find it correct for those players that are doing important work here.”
Now, Italian journalist Antonio Corbo claimed Napoli had to “avoid a joke” by selling Kvaratskhelia before his value declined, but they were “lucky” to miss out on Garnacho.
“There is no replacement for Kvaratskhelia, but how could there be? It was urgent to sell him to avoid a joke,” Corbo said.
“Luckily, there is no Garnacho, De Laurentiis, Chiavelli and Manna can boast [about not signing Garnacho] today.
“Between substitutions and disagreements, the very expensive Argentine, suggested by interested Italian sources, is the cross [annoyance] of Manchester United.”