Oh Metro… how we love your entirely made up transfer rumours. Although, to be fair, if they’d told us a month ago that we were going to have signed five players by mid-June then I think we’d have all laughed our heads off.
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For what it’s worth, let’s look at what they have to say – Higuain is supposedly keen to leave Napoli and wants a fresh challenge; the Reds want to add more firepower and the lure of the Premier League might be enough to convince the Argentine to make the move, despite our lack of Champions League football. An official enquiry has been made…
Wrong!
Unfortunately, it seems that regardless of whether Higuain wants to leave or not, he faces a Raheem Sterling-esque battle to force his way out of Naples this summer.
The far more reliable Sky Sports have confirmed that any interested parties will have to meet the player’s €94.7m (£66m) buy-out clause, rather than the £46m price tag being quoted by the Metro.
Napoli themselves have confirmed this in an official statement. They said: “Napoli are keen to clarify certain articles, published in some newspapers, about the departure of Higuain.
“The official clarification from Napoli is the following: there is a clause in Gonzalo Higuain’s contract. The clause is £66m. There have been no bids. Anyone who wants the player will have to pay the club that amount.”
There has also been little suggestion that Higuain is looking for a move this summer, despite Napoli missing out on a place in Europe’s premier competition after finishing fifth in Serie A last season.
The 27-year-old has been performing well for his club, scoring 53 goals in 102 games since joining them two summers ago, and by all accounts wishes to have another crack at firing the club to both domestic and European success.
As much as we’d love to add a player of his calibre to our squad, it appears likely that this one can be written off.