The Colombia international is in limbo at the La Liga giants and the president of the Serie A club hopes for a breakthrough in talks
Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has called on Real Madrid to join his club in making “sacrifices” in order to complete a move for James Rodriguez.
James is in limbo after his two-year loan with Bayern Munich came to an end without the Bundesliga champions exercising their purchase option for the Colombian attacker.
Reports suggest James has no place in the plans of Zinedine Zidane, while Napoli head coach Carlo Ancelotti, who coached James at Madrid and Bayern, and De Laurentiis have both been open about their desire to bring him to Italy.
However, De Laurentiis claimed Thursday that Real Madrid were making unjust demands of Napoli and the Serie A club were under no pressure to complete a deal.
Friday, De Laurentiis again called on Madrid to lessen their demands, suggesting Napoli are ready to meet them part way, if Los Blancos are willing.
“We are all prepared to make sacrifices for James Rodriguez, but we ask Real Madrid to make them too,” De Laurentiis told Sky Sport Italia.
“We’ve not given up, but in order to break the ice we need Madrid to consider that rather than have an unhappy player sitting around, they should send him out to play. Perhaps on loan.
“I read a lot of stories that are untrue… I don’t talk to Florentino Perez about James, as we have [director of sport Cristiano] Giuntoli and an agent-friend of James, who is also our friend [Jorge Mendes], so we don’t need to talk to Florentino.
“If he were to call me, I could answer the phone, but I’ve never spoken directly to Perez, as some impudently reported.”
De Laurentiis also was clear he believes a reunion with Ancelotti is exactly what James needs to get his career back on track, citing the success the 28-year-old enjoyed under the Italian at two seperate clubs.
“It’d be a gift for him,” De Laurentiis added. “Studying this player, I realised he only ever really delivered on two occasions, both with Carlo Ancelotti on the bench, at Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.
“For him, this is a guarantee of being satisfied, central to our project and decisive on the field. He has understood that, he knows, Ancelotti spoke to him and was able to motivate him.
“We’ll see what happens. We are waiting for the time to be right.”
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