Shadows remain on the relationship between Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Napoli. Yesterday’s meeting between the club and the player’s representatives was not decisive and did not dispel the Georgian champion’s doubts about his stay in Italy. In the morning the president De Laurentiis, the CEO. Chiavelli and sporting director Manna took a private flight to Germany. Destination Dusseldorf, home of Georgia’s headquarters. To meet Kvara and his agent Mamuka Jugeli. With a priority objective on the part of the Napoli president: to reiterate to the Georgian striker his centrality in Antonio Conte’s project. After the coach himself clarified Kvara’s immovability in the design of his Napoli. An initiative, that of going to Germany, which was appreciated by Kavra and his agent but which was not enough to dispel all the shadows. A meeting served to talk to each other, to express their respective positions directly, without messages through the media, but which did not have the desired effects.
stages
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The meeting did not address the issue of Kvara’s contract renewal. Everything was focused on the club’s desire to underline and reconfirm the centrality of the striker in the Napoli project, strengthened in its ambitions by the arrival of Antonio Conte on the bench. Precisely for this reason there was no intention of addressing the issue of Kvara’s contract renewal, postponed until the end of the European Championship. Yesterday, the important thing was to reactivate the harmony that was the dominant basis of the relationship before the latest tensions in the wake of Napoli’s disastrous post-scudetto season. From this point of view, the atmosphere was certainly more serene, but without white smoke.
the day before
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On Wednesday afternoon, during his presentation at the Royal Palace, Antonio Conte did not mince his words. “Kvara is staying, there is no doubt about it. He is a player with important characteristics, there are fewer and fewer of them like him, wanting to keep him is not a whim. He is strong in one-on-one situations and a playmaker. He must not risk losing his mental freedom, we will enhance his qualities by supporting them”. And Aurelio De Laurentis was clear about the striker in his position as Napoli’s top manager: “There are no problems with the player because we have a contract. After the European Championship we will make him a proposal to adjust his contract and I don’t see any problems…”. A few hours later, Kvaratskhelia was among the stars, including with a goal, in Georgia’s 2-0 win over Portugal. He broke the deadlock after just two minutes, immediately setting a clear course for a match that gave his national team the historic achievement of reaching the round of 16 at the European Championship. At the end of the match, Kvara declared: “I respect Conte, he is one of the best coaches, I respect Napoli, I love Napoli but I will decide my future after the European Championships, now I am happy here with Georgia”. These words had caused a certain alarm in the Neapolitan environment, confirmed by the outcome of yesterday’s meeting. The sirens of PSG continue to sound loudly and continue to have a strong hold on the player and his entourage. In short, we are not far from the words of June 16 when Mamuka Jugeli, Kvara’s agent, thundered on Georgian TV: “I don’t want people to think that Kvara wants to stay in Naples. We want to leave, but we are waiting for the end of the European Championships so as not to disturb Khvicha. The priority is the transfer to a team that plays in the Champions League”. And the player’s father, Badri, again speaking to Sport Imedi, had doubled the dose: “I don’t want him to stay in Naples, last year three coaches changed and it is difficult to play in a situation like that”. Positions that were confirmed yesterday.
new engagement
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The club’s willingness to adjust the current salary (1.5 million euros) per season seems to be of little use. On Napoli’s part there is a desire to try to satisfy the attacker’s needs. Starting from the extension of the contract until 2029. Arriving or in any case trying to meet the player’s request: around 6 million per season. Napoli is ready to give Kvara a job in line with his prestige now acquired on the international level. To frame his value as a Napoli star also in the cycle that is about to begin under the direction of Antonio Conte. But without the player’s will, a mirage appears.
