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This is how much Verdi's Napoli snub cost AC Milan

This is how much Verdi's Napoli snub cost AC Milan

  • Nima Tavallaey Roodsari (@NimaTavRood)
Former AC Milan youth team player Simone Verdi has had a fantastic start to the first half of the Serie A season. In fact it was so good that Napoli had agreed terms with the player's club Bologna on a transfer fee of €24 million including add-ons as well as agreed terms financially with the player too.

The player however paused to reflect before coming back with a "no thanks" to Napoli explaining his snub that he wanted to finish the season at Bologna before making a change, saying he'd be open to the transfer in the summer.

The collapsed deal does not leave egg on the face of Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis but also the player's former club, AC Milan, financially speaking.

The Rossoneri sold him to Bologna for €2 million in the summer of 2016 but negotiated a clause which would guarantee them 20% of any future transfer fee. This means that if Napoli would have paid €25 million for Verdi, AC Milan would have stood to earn €5 million. Given the unstable financial situation the club is going through a gift of €5 million would hardly have saved their finances but they would have been a welcome source of revenue.