Cristiano Giuntoli’s priority is to leave Napoli to head to Juventus and a solution may have been found to resolve his contract situation, La Gazzetta dello Sport reports.
The 51-year-old director has been with the Partenopei since 2015 and played a key role in the club’s rise to their third ever Scudetto, helping to bring in stars like Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Victor Osimhen and Kim Min-Jae.
In the final weeks of the season, at the height of Napoli’s Scudetto celebrations, reports began to emerge discussing Giuntoli’s desire to leave Campania this summer in order to join Juventus, who are embarking on a new post-Andrea Agnelli era.
As detailed by La Gazzetta dello Sport via Calciomercato.com, Giuntoli has been unable to complete his move to Juventus due to his contract situation with Napoli. His deal with the club expires in 2024 and Aurelio De Laurentiis has no desire to let him head to Turin this summer.
Currently, the situation is seeing everyone lose out; Juventus have hardly made significant progress in the transfer market due to their uncertain position, Giuntoli has no decision making power at Napoli and only found out about Rudi Garcia’s appointment through social media, and the Partenopei have been unable to appoint a replacement to start working on the next steps.
Juventus are not willing to pay any compensation to free up Giuntoli, leaving the ball in the director’s court. He’s met with De Laurentiis several times but failed to convince him to break things off, but now a solution has emerged.
The Napoli sporting director could offer to waive various financial aspects, including the salary of the last year of his contract, various add-ons linked to this season and general payments, which totals around €4-5m gross.
It’s now up to De Laurentiis to make a decision. For now, the prospect of a mutual contract termination at the end of the summer cannot be ruled out still.