Serie A giants Juventus are currently said to be leading the race to sign Napoli full-back Giovanni di Lorenzo, who wants to depart the Partenopei.

La Gazzetta dello Sport state that the damage done to the relationship between Di Lorenzo and Napoli is quite irreparable and the club captain feels betrayed by the club and he felt betrayed by the fact that fans booed him in the previous game, when he was taken off for Pasquale Mazzocchi. 

The player’s agent has made it clear that even Antonio Conte’s appointment won’t change Di Lorenzo’s mind. While Atletico Madrid have made an enquiry recently, Di Lorenzo wants to stay in Italy. Juventus and Inter are interested, but Juve are leading the race because Cristiano Guintoli has huge admiration for the Italian since their time at Napoli and both have a very good relationship.

Napoli want €20 million to let him leave and they can’t afford to keep a disgruntled player at the club when he is earning a rather prominent salary of over €3 million per season. The dilemma for Juve would be whether they can spend that fee on a 31-year-old instead of fixing the other issues in their squad. They believe that they could offer players in a deal to reduce the asking price and it remains to be seen if that could suit Napoli.

Kaustubh Pandey I GIFN