REVEALED: Why Fiorentina defender turned Napoli down
When Rafa Benitez was in charge at Napoli, Astori was the first central defender that the current Real Madrid boss targeted to reinforce the Azzurri defense. Shortly after, the Spaniard has to come to terms with reality as well as with players’ price-tag, which was far too expensive for the San Paolo side.
After his temporary Cagliari come-back last summer, Davide Astori’s price was more than halved than two years before and his transfer at Napoli was reported to be a done deal. Trouble is, Astori was due to attend an event organized by his personal sponsor, while Napoli demand to all the new players to sign over their image rights to the club.
The player was reported to be in talk with his sponsor, in order to solve the situation and sign an agreement with his new club. Unfortunately, the days flowed and Napoli heard no news from Astori. The day that the two sides were due to meet in Rome to close the deal, Aurelio De Laurentiis’ club urged some more time to think about the whole thing.
Napoli’s behavior didn’t impress, to say the least, the former Milan target who quitted the negotiations.
“Lot of lies have been said in the last period, my sponsor was not the real problem”. Astori said on his way back to Cagliari, just a few weeks before signing with Fiorentina.
Next Sunday, the Tuscan team is awaited at the Stadio San Paolo, for one of the most juicy games of Serie A day 8. Napoli vs. Fiorentina will probably say which side should have more regrets over the last summer collapsed deal.
