Napoli have now officially signed a new striker as they look to retain their Serie A title next season.
The club have been looking at several potential options for next year as it was widely known that Antonio Conte had no plans on reintegrating Victor Osimhen into his squad despite his successful loan spell at Galatasaray.
Instead, Napoli have looked to Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez, Udinese’s Lorenzo Lucca and even Manchester United’s Rasmus Hojlund.
However, Napoli have taken to their official site, announcing the signing of Lucca this summer.
The Azzurri statement read: “SSC Napoli have announced that the club have signed Lorenzo Lucca from Udinese Calcio on loan with an option to buy.”
CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE CENTREDEVILS WHATSAPP GROUP CHAT NOW!
The statement is accompanied with a fact file on the striker showing off his 48 goals in 165 league appearances across stints with Vicenza, Brescia, Turin, Palermo, Pisa, Ajax, and Udinese.
Whilst the table lists his appearances as “Serie A” and “Coppa Italia”, these are in fact his stats for league and domestic cup appearances, with his time at Udinese marking his Serie A debut.
Napoli’s signing of the young striker on loan with an option to buy has two major implications for Manchester United.
Firstly, that Victor Osimhen is going to be leaving the club this summer, and whilst he’s been on United’s shortlist for some time, it’s Galatasaray who are closing in on retaining their star man beyond their recent loan.
CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE CENTREDEVILS WHATSAPP GROUP CHAT NOW!
Secondly, it closes off United’s potential pursuit of Lucca who has appeared on their shortlist earlier in the transfer window as the club need a new reliable striker at Old Trafford as they look to offload Rasmus Hojlund.
Thirdly, and more impactfully for United, speaking of Hojlund, it potentially marks the end of Napoli’s interest in the United striker, cutting off one exit route The Red Devils had for the struggling striker this summer.
Thankfully it wasn’t the only option to offload the Denmark international, with AS Roma also interested, still holding him in high regard after his time with Atalanta before moving to Old Trafford.
However, it’s likely now we’ll see less links to Napoli through the rest of the transfer window with both connections seemingly ended in one foul swoop.
