I Planned To Replace Osimhen With Gyokeres – Aurelio De Laurentiis

Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has said that he turned down Paris Saint-Germain’s bid for Victor Osimhen and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia because of Antonio Conte. He recently revealed that his decision not to sell both players was because of a promise he made to the Italian manager.

Speaking to the press, De Laurentiis shared that despite the £168m bid from PSG to sign both Osimhen and Kvaratskhelia as a package deal, he could not sell after vowing to ensure the Nigerian plays under Conte.

According to him, his initial plan was to sell to the French club and then use the funds realized to sign Viktor Gyokeres as Osimhen’s replacement.

He concluded by saying that he did not have to break the promise he made to Conte, therefore, they had to remain at Napoli.

“After the Georgian’s first, formidable season, we immediately began negotiating a contract renewal, improving his salary and even offering him a very significant sum, because it was obvious that the limited compensation would attract half the world ready to make golden bridges for him. But his agent, Mamuka Jugeli, had other plans for himself and for the player.

The agent wanted to get another club to pay him a very high commission, as well as a double-figure salary for Kvara. At the end of the second year of his contract, the European Championships in Germany took place. [Sporting director Giovanni] Manna, [advisor] Andrea Chiavelli, and I flew to Dusseldorf to resolve the matter, but Mamuka continued to stall, claiming that Cristiano Giuntoli had promised him money that hadn’t been paid. It wasn’t hard to verify, a lie.

I should have sold him then; PSG had offered more than €200 million for the Kvara-Osimhen package. With those funds, the idea was to buy Gyokeres. But I had promised Conte I’d keep him, and I didn’t have the heart to do it,” he said.