A full-blown ambush, just when the Conte effect was bringing enthusiasm and serenity back to the entire Naples environment. Mamuka Jugeli and Badri Kvaratskhelia, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s agent and father respectively, chose Georgian TV to break the silence and announce that Kvara’s future will no longer be in blue. “I don’t want people to think that Kvara wants to stay in Naples – Jugeli thundered –. We want to leave, but we are waiting for the end of the European Championship so as not to disturb Khvicha. The priority is the transfer to a team that plays in the Champions League”. And shortly afterwards, again on Sport Imedi, father Badri took things up a notch, heavily criticizing the club’s actions in the post-scudetto year: “I don’t want him to stay in Naples, last year three coaches changed and it’s difficult to play in such a situation.” All of a sudden, just when Conte’s arrival seemed to have managed to calm the Georgian star’s stomach ache. But evidently PSG has struck the right chord, promising the player a pharaonic contract, a starting place in a top club and the possibility of taking advantage of the Champions League showcase, the most coveted by champions from all over the world.
PRESSING PSG
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A big problem for Napoli, who for some time had begun discussing with Kvara’s entourage to renew the current agreement, which expires in 2027. A contract with a salary that is too low for the importance that Kvara has proven to have in the team, but which Aurelio De Laurentiis was ready to review by tripling his salary as early as next July 1st. Evidently, however, something broke in the diplomatic negotiations between the parties. At the end of April, when De Laurentiis and Jugeli had their last official meeting, the distance was over a million: Napoli had gone so far as to offer up to 4 million bonuses included, Jugeli and father Kvara, on the other hand, start from a base of 5 million net plus bonus to start negotiating. The parties had decided to update at the end of the championship and something had happened: in the meantime, the first official offer from PSG to Napoli of 60 million euros arrived, promptly returned to the sender. But it was only a first contact, to understand the margins for maneuver. PSG would like to close around 100 million and can go even further. Napoli will continue to resist because for Conte they cannot be touched. But the risk of another standoff is high.
NAPLES DOESN’T FIT
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Conte had asked De Laurentiis two things before signing: the non-transferability of Kvara and Di Lorenzo. And Napoli does not seem willing to let go of the Georgian, as he reiterated through a tweet released in the night between Sunday and Monday: “In reference to the statements of Kvaratskhelia’s agent, Mamuka Jugeli, and his father Badri, Calcio Napoli reiterates that the player has a contract for another three years with the club. Kvaratskhelia is not on the market. It is not the agents or fathers who decide the future of a player under contract with Napoli but the Calcio Napoli club!!! End of the story”.
wall to wall
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In France, for weeks, they have been talking about Kvara’s yes to PSG, for a contract worth around 8 million per season which would be unparalleled for Napoli. Be careful, though: Khvicha is linked to Napoli for another three seasons and the wall to wall is not good for anyone at the moment. One year after the Osimhen hit, here is the Kvara grain. It is possible that Conte will try to take the field himself, putting his face to it as always: Napoli is a wall, Kvara wants to break. Not the most serene way to begin the year of refoundation.
