‘On Monday I will give you good news’ – De Laurentiis hints at Napoli signing

Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has hinted that the club will be announcing a signing on Monday. 

The club finished a distant second to Juventus in Serie A this season, but registered 79 points in their first season under Carlo Ancelotti and have a Champions League campaign to look forward to next season. 

They will also be looking to close the gap on the Turin side in the league table, with the club targeting a move for a striker this summer to help carry some of the load. 

Former Napoli forward Fabio Quagliarella​, now 36, was the league leader in goals last season, with Napoli’s top league scorer, Arkadiusz Milik​, finishing nine goals back of the veteran in the scoring race. 

And De Laurentiis has teased a return to Naples for Quagliarella​, while promising good news for the club on Monday.

“If we find a right forward we will make a sacrifice,” he told Sky Sports. “The return of Quagliarella would be a matter of love and sympathy for a Neapolitan who left for the questions we know. It would be like a form of compensation.

“On Monday I will give you good news for this summer.”

While there are questions over who will be leading the line for Napoli next season, the president left no doubt over who he wanted on the touchline calling the shots. 

Napoli haven’t finished outside of Serie A’s top three since 2015, when they ended the season in fifth, and Ancelotti’s second-place finish was the club’s third in the last four seasons. 

Ancelotti Napoli Arsenal Europa League

Ancelotti Napoli Arsenal Europa League

De Laurentiis​ seems to have found a kindred spirit in the former Real Madrid and Bayern Munich boss, and wants to see him stick around for the long term, promising to work to find solutions for the playing staff. 

“If I find the coach I want to keep him for life because that makes everything easier,” he said. “For now Ancelotti has proven to be an exemplary traveling companion, an elegant, cultured and friendly person.

“You can talk about everything with him, not just football. We share many values.

“The first year served to breathe the Italian climate that had long ago lost. Then he had to understand his players and evaluate them. During the summer we will have to work well and find a striker.”

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