Napoli reveal ‘unfair’ Alejandro Garnacho request; claim Manchester United overpaid on £29m transfer
Alejandro Garnacho was in talks to join Napoli in the January transfer window (Getty) Napoli’s sporting director, Giovanni Manna, has revealed that Alejandro Garnacho’s salary demands scuppered his move to the Serie A club and believes Manchester United overpaid to sign Patrick Dorgu in the January transfer window. Napoli were in the market to replace Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who joined Paris Saint-Germain in a €70 million (£58.9m) deal last month, and held extensive talks to sign Garnacho from United. However, Napoli were unable to agree a transfer fee, even after United lowered their asking price to €65m (£54.8m), and Manna claims that negotiations over the Argentine’s wages were not in line with the club’s current structure. ‘We discussed and met Garnacho even before Kvara left, we made an important offer to United, we got very close,’ Manna said at a press conference on Wednesday. ‘The player wanted to leave the Premier League in January, because in July it’s different, he wanted to be satisfied financially, something that we can’t do at the moment, we don’t want to and I don’t even think it’s fair when there’s an average salary in the dressing room and you put a young player who earns a higher salary, it’s not right towards the others who are doing important things. ‘We created a competitive team for a competition, and we are there thanks to the coach and the team, it wasn’t right.’ Napoli sporting director, Giovanni Manna, claims Alejandro Garnacho wanted to leave Manchester United in January (Getty) Napoli were also in the running to sign Dorgu before United agreed a €35m (£29.2m) deal with Lecce to sign the 20-year-old wing-back in the final week of the January window. Manna admits Napoli were unable to compete with United’s offer but feels the bid was above market value. ‘Napoli must take strong players, whether they’re young or older. For example, we negotiated Dorgu for the summer, then if United arrives and makes an offer outside the market it’s difficult to tell them to wait for us,’ Manna said. Napoli believe Manchester United overpaid to sign Patrick Dorgu (Getty) ‘I’ll give you a practical example – if there’s an opportunity like [Scott] McTominay we’ll take it, but we’re not a club that takes a free agent for a five million salary and six million commission, that’s not our modus operandi, many others do it. We take the good ones, the functional ones, if they have a prospect it’s better, but it’s not a necessary condition. ‘We took Buongiorno, Gilmour, but also Spinazzola, McTominay, Neres, Romelu, strong players in their market moment. ‘It seems that we had to do who knows what, we had to replace Kvara, we didn’t do it as we wanted but this summer we made few mistakes and the team is showing it. ‘Taking the step to please Garnacho means that I put someone in there with players who have been busting their asses since July… it’s not right, then we wanted to do it. ‘I’m not happy, we didn’t succeed, but the market didn’t end yesterday, it starts again and we will have to be good and show strength now. Staying focused on the Champions League objective, which doesn’t mean not dreaming but staying focused, otherwise if you fly then you fall and hurt yourself. This Napoli deserves only positive words, always and in any case, what is being done nobody expected.’ For more stories like this, check our sport page. Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Napoli’s sporting director, Giovanni Manna, has revealed that Alejandro Garnacho’s salary demands scuppered his move to the Serie A club and believes Manchester United overpaid to sign Patrick Dorgu in the January transfer window.
Napoli were in the market to replace Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who joined Paris Saint-Germain in a €70 million (£58.9m) deal last month, and held extensive talks to sign Garnacho from United.
However, Napoli were unable to agree a transfer fee, even after United lowered their asking price to €65m (£54.8m), and Manna claims that negotiations over the Argentine’s wages were not in line with the club’s current structure.
‘We discussed and met Garnacho even before Kvara left, we made an important offer to United, we got very close,’ Manna said at a press conference on Wednesday.
‘The player wanted to leave the Premier League in January, because in July it’s different, he wanted to be satisfied financially, something that we can’t do at the moment, we don’t want to and I don’t even think it’s fair when there’s an average salary in the dressing room and you put a young player who earns a higher salary, it’s not right towards the others who are doing important things.
‘We created a competitive team for a competition, and we are there thanks to the coach and the team, it wasn’t right.’
Napoli were also in the running to sign Dorgu before United agreed a €35m (£29.2m) deal with Lecce to sign the 20-year-old wing-back in the final week of the January window.
Manna admits Napoli were unable to compete with United’s offer but feels the bid was above market value.
‘Napoli must take strong players, whether they’re young or older. For example, we negotiated Dorgu for the summer, then if United arrives and makes an offer outside the market it’s difficult to tell them to wait for us,’ Manna said.
‘I’ll give you a practical example – if there’s an opportunity like [Scott] McTominay we’ll take it, but we’re not a club that takes a free agent for a five million salary and six million commission, that’s not our modus operandi, many others do it. We take the good ones, the functional ones, if they have a prospect it’s better, but it’s not a necessary condition.
‘We took Buongiorno, Gilmour, but also Spinazzola, McTominay, Neres, Romelu, strong players in their market moment.
‘It seems that we had to do who knows what, we had to replace Kvara, we didn’t do it as we wanted but this summer we made few mistakes and the team is showing it.
‘Taking the step to please Garnacho means that I put someone in there with players who have been busting their asses since July… it’s not right, then we wanted to do it.
‘I’m not happy, we didn’t succeed, but the market didn’t end yesterday, it starts again and we will have to be good and show strength now. Staying focused on the Champions League objective, which doesn’t mean not dreaming but staying focused, otherwise if you fly then you fall and hurt yourself. This Napoli deserves only positive words, always and in any case, what is being done nobody expected.’
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
