Barcelona set to miss out on Serie A superstar; player on the verge of renewal – report | OneFootball

The future of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was up in the air not more than a month ago, especially after a poor season that saw Napoli finish 10th in the league.

Napoli’s disappointing campaign came just a year after the Partenopei surprised everyone by securing the league title, with Kvaratskhelia playing a crucial role.

Naturally, it was expected that the Georgian international might look to move on to a bigger club. Barcelona, to that end, were one of the clubs ready to take advantage of the market opportunity.

Radical turn in Kvaratskhelia’s fortunes

However, during this one-month period, Napoli’s powerful president Aurelio De Laurentiis has worked hard to convince Kvaratskhelia to remain at the club, despite overtures from a series of European giants.

To everyone’s surprise, de Laurentiis appears to have managed the feat, with Kvaratskhelia closing in on signing a contract extension at Napoli, reports Il Mattino (h/t Diario SPORT).

All set to stay at Napoli (Photo by SAVO PRELEVIC/AFP via Getty Images)

The report adds that Kvaratskhelia has reached an agreement in principle for a new deal at Napoli and the contract could be officiated at the end of the ongoing European Championship.

Big blow for Barcelona

Barcelona will feel hard done by Kvaratskhelia’s new contract at Napoli, especially given the fact that the player’s agent had confirmed interest from the Catalan outfit earlier in the year.

However, it must be noted that Kvaratskhelia was never really a realistic option for Barcelona this summer.

During his transfer saga, Napoli president Aurelio de Laurentiis had made it clear that any club looking to sign Kvaratskhelia must pay at least €100 million.

Such an amount could have never been a possibility for Barça under the current economic condition. As such, the Blaugrana will look to move on and attain more realistic targets such as Nico Williams, who could be available for a figure of around €60 million.