Napoli are getting ready to sell Fabian Ruiz this summer, after rejecting Newcastle United’s €40m offer, eager to spark a bidding war with Arsenal, Manchester United, Barcelona and Real Madrid worth closer to €60m.
President Aurelio De Laurentiis warned he will cut down costs from next season, above all the wage bill, which is why Lorenzo Insigne, Dries Mertens and others have been told they can only sign a new contract with a pay cut.
Insigne has already accepted a move to Toronto FC as a free agent and Mertens is expected to be released this summer.
According to the Corriere dello Sport, Napoli rejected a €40m deadline day offer from Newcastle United for Fabian Ruiz because they know he can command a bigger fee than that.
The 25-year-old Spain international is under contract until June 2023 and has reportedly been told to accept a pay cut or leave at the end of this season.
He was purchased from Real Betis for €30m in 2018 and his value has since sky-rocketed on the transfer market to circa €60m.
Napoli hope to spark a bidding war in the summer, with Arsenal, Manchester United and Newcastle making the offers from England.
Liverpool and Manchester City are also possibilities, while Real Madrid and Barcelona have long been interested in signing Fabian Ruiz.
Real Madrid have Carlo Ancelotti, whose son Davide was the scout responsible for signing Fabian Ruiz to Napoli in the first place.
#Fabian #Ruiz, l’oro di #Napoli: i top club europei all’assalto⬇️ https://t.co/5cl5z08W3E
— Corriere dello Sport (@CorSport) February 1, 2022
If he hadn’t spent 80m on Osimhen they would have been able to keep the core of their squad (including their captain and homegrown talent) together. So now they’re losing Insigne, going to lose Ruiz, probably will sell Koulibaly at some point before his contract expires, Lozano will be next, and finally Osimhen himself. I expect Napoli to move further from the top, which sadly for Naples, suits Milan just fine as that eliminates some of the competition. Maybe Roma and Napoli will “trade places”?