Napoli have completed the signing of David Neres, who flew in on Monday to undergo medicals and sign his new contract. All that is missing is a celebratory tweet from president Aurelio De Laurentiis to make the deal official.
According to Gianluca Di Marzio, this is Parthenopeia Chelsea paid 28 million euros for the speedster including extras. Chelsea would have liked to spend that amount on Romelu Lukaku, but Chelsea rejected the offer. So they went ahead and concluded the ongoing negotiations with Benfica.
David Neres moves to Napoli and Serie A after a few years of being close to Juventus. He leaves Benfica after three seasons in which he scored 17 goals and 26 assists in 85 appearances. He scored five times and assisted eight goals for his teammates in the last game.
The 27-year-old moved from Shakhtar Donetsk to Portugal for 15 euros in 2022. Ajax brought him to Europe from Sao Paulo. He has played eight international matches for Brazil and scored one goal.
The signing of a new winger could lead to the departure of Cyril Ngonge. Fiorentina and Lazio have asked him on loan. Azzurri paid 18 million euros to sign him from Verona last January.
Our opinion on Napoli and David Neres
It’s a solid deal, but it would look better if it was more affordable and he wasn’t playing in a position where they are firmly established and need to fix all their weaknesses first. That’s not unusual with a new director and coach, especially one who likes established players, but they haven’t been shy about reversing the transfer market moves of the previous regime. They should hopefully be right in their assessments.
