Empoli sporting director Marcello Carli says Lorenzo Tonelli “is not for sale” but is less sure about Federico Barba.

Barba has been heavily linked with a move to Napoli, while defender Tonelli is a target for Roma.

“For about 20 days I’ve been hearing talk about Barba to Napoli,” Carli said on Radio Crc.

“But I haven’t heard from [Napoli sporting director Cristiano] Giuntoli, so at the moment there’s nothing concrete.

Empoli sporting director Marcello Carli says Lorenzo Tonelli “is not for sale” but is less sure about Federico Barba.

Barba has been heavily linked with a move to Napoli, while defender Tonelli is a target for Roma.

“For about 20 days I’ve been hearing talk about Barba to Napoli,” Carli said on Radio Crc.

“But I haven’t heard from [Napoli sporting director Cristiano] Giuntoli, so at the moment there’s nothing concrete.

“If a serious offer came then we’d evaluate it, because we have an excellent relationship with Napoli.

“We’ve had several important offers for Tonelli, but he’s not for sale because we don’t want to lose him.

“For Barba we had an offer from Stuttgart, €2-3m, but it seemed low. He will 99 per cent be called-up for the game against Napoli.

“Of course, some things could be closed on the last day of the transfer window [Monday]. We’re not looking for a replacement for Barba, but we’ll have some talks in Milan.

“It’s not easy to find a player who’s ready, and the difficulty of the January window is finding a replacement.”

Carli was also asked about Piotr Zieliński, who is on loan in Tuscany from Udinese.

“He’s a fantastic player, I’ve exchanged a few words with Napoli about him, but Giuntoli knows we only have him on loan, and all talks have to be with Udinese.

“I think Zieliński has the characteristics of [Marek] Hamsik, he’s technically fantastic and a really promising player.”

Bygaby

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *