Behind the scenes: Napoli midfield star came close to joining Liverpool and AC Milan last summer
​Both clubs, however, failed to sign Zielinski. We widely reported the details of both transfer operations last summer. AC Milan had an agreement with the Zielinski’s former club Udinese (€ 18 million), but failed to reach economic agreement with the player who wanted to move to Liverpool.
The Reds were in the opposite situation. Klopp had already reached an agreement with the player but did not manage to match the player’s transfer fee. Napoli pounced on the player in the right moment. Aurelio De Laurentiis offered € 14 million plus Camilo Zuniga who eventually joined Watford last summer as both Udinese and the Hornets are owned by the Pozzo family.
After yesterday’s 7-1 away win to Bologna, Napoli boss Sarri claimed that he’s worried some bigger club than Napoli will make offers to sign Zielinski in the summer. His performances are attracting many European clubs and AC Milan are suddenly regretting not managing to sign one of the best midfielders in Serie A.