Napoli president personally intervenes in efforts to accelerate Darwin Nunez exit from Liverpool | OneFootball

Napoli’s interest in Darwin Nunez has been well-documented, but the Serie A champions have thus far been left frustrated in their pursuit of the Liverpool striker.

With Anfield chiefs compiling a three-man shortlist of centre-forward candidates to potentially bring in this summer, they could well be open to sanctioning an exit for the 26-year-old, with David Ornstein claiming (via The Athletic) that any such arrivals would be contingent on selling the Uruguayan first.

Fabrizio Romano claimed in recent days that Antonio Conte’s side remain quite keen on our number 9 but are struggling to meet LFC’s reported asking price of €70m [£59.9m], which has impeded their progress in getting a deal done.

Reports in Italy have indicated that Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has now taken matters into his own hands to try and accelerate the club’s pursuit of Nunez.

Napoli president meets with agent involved in Nunez transfer

According to Corriere dello Sport (via Football Italia), the 76-year-old has personally met with Fali Ramadani – the agent tasked with brokering the prospective transfer – after talks between the two clubs had been stalling.

The report adds that the Uruguay international would be keen on joining the Serie A champions and has even given them priority over a clutch of Saudi Pro League suitors who’d be in a position to reimburse him much more handsomely.

Napoli have thus far been relucant to offer anything more than €43m (£37m) for Nunez, which is well below Liverpool’s valuation of the player.

(Photo by Francesco Pecoraro/Getty Images)

Will Nunez get his move to Napol this summer?

De Laurentiis is evidently determined to get his man, and the striker’s apparent willingness to team up with the Partenopei should ensure that personal terms aren’t an issue.

However, unless Conte’s side are prepared to submit an offer which is much closer to the Reds’ asking price, or FSG concede significant ground on their valuation of the 26-year-old, this particular deal could be rather difficult to pull off.

Should the deck of cards collapse and Nunez remains at Anfield by the end of August, we can only hope that he’d put any off-field drama aside and demonstrate a commitment to the LFC cause. To his credit, it’s one aspect where he couldn’t be faulted during his three years at the club so far.

If that were to happen, though, the Uruguayan would need to show a much more clinical edge than what he did last season, when his 47 appearances yielded just seven goals and he lost his place in Arne Slot’s preferred XI in the second half of the campaign.

Will De Laurentiis’ meeting with Ramadani turbo-charge a potential Napoli swoop for our number 9? The next few days should offer some strong clues in that regard.