Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis said Lorenzo Insigne was right to join Toronto FC and cash in with MLS. ‘He might have 80 years ahead of him and has to take care of his future.’
The captain was only offered a new contract at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona if he took a significant pay cut, reportedly half the original salary, with some added bonuses.
Instead, he signed the biggest contract in the history of MLS to join Toronto FC as a free agent from June 30.
“He is a free man and therefore it is only right he makes the decisions that he finds to be correct to take care of his future,” De Laurentiis told Canale 21.
“It is a long life nowadays, with a bit of good luck and some healthy eating, if he’s got good genes, he could reach 110 years of age.
“So he might have 80 years ahead of him and has to think about that, it’s only right he tries to take care of his future.
“This is nothing to feel guilty about.”
It is widely believed De Laurentiis and Napoli were not particularly eager for Insigne to sign a new contract and were more than happy to see him walk away as a free agent.
Dries Mertens could be in a similar position come June 30, as his contract is also running down.
There is an option to extend for one more year, but again the club is not believed to be enthusiastic about activating it for their all-time top scorer.
— Alfredo Pedullà (@AlfredoPedulla) February 6, 2022
What can you say?
It’s a sad day in Calcio when Major League Soccer clubs can afford to top the bills of players Italian clubs cannot
I can’t see Italian football ever getting back the glory days of the 90’s & it’s a slap in the face when the increasing number is now owned by foreigners.
Case in point – Parma. Since Krause took over, talk about gone backover
And that’s the beginning of the story
Given Mertens’ popularity with the fans and his position as Napoli‘s all-time top scorer, I believe ADL is making a mistake to let him go, especially as the predicted sale of Fabian Ruiz is expected to bring in approximately 70 million Euros. A football club cannot and should not be entirely about money, or it will lose its soul. Who wants Napoli to wind up being like Chelsea or Man City?
@ Morgan Dovo…
ADL could afford to raise Insigne’s salary. Instead of paying foreign players absurd amounts to play, those funds should be paid to Italian and Italian national players.
He is simply an cheap, old oligarch.
ADL rightly sees that Insigne is a ship slowly sinking down. Today´s match and this season proves it
100%.
I am with my president again, he mostly makes correct decisions.
Vittorio, couldn’t agree more regards putting your own top of the list.
But I believe football as a whole is a world gone mad, just like everything else.
There is clearly a number of problems that are out of control.
I really fear for the future of the game, especially in the next 5-10 years.
Somethings got to give
I think ADL is an insulting POS. To me, he sounds like the wolf, crying sour grapes.
I’m 100% for Napoli. However, as a Torontonian, I’m looking forward to Lorenzo’s arrival.
F.U. ADL.
I can see why they didn’t want to renew Insigne, he’s just not a 5-6 mil/year player. Hope they get a more traditional winger to replace him, someone who stays wide and stretches the pitch to make space for Osimhen. Must keep Mertens and Ospina though. Mertens is not only an absolute legend, he’s also still got a considerable number of goals in him. Ospina is an important calming presense in the squad. ADL has done a lot of good for Napoli but it might be a good time to move on and sell the club (Jeff Bezos, if you’re reading this, ply buy Napoli 😀 )