Arsenal and Manchester United have been dealt a blow in their pursuit of Olympique Lyon midfielder Maxime Gonalons in the summer. Reports in Italy claim that Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis is already claiming the signature of the Lyon captain.
Gonalons has been long in the radar of the Serie A outfit and manager Rafa Benitez came close to signing the midfielder in the January Transfer window. The 25 year old also attracted interest from Premier League duo Arsenal and Manchester United over the past month.
Lyon are currently fifth in the French Ligue One standings and look set to miss out on Champions League football for next season. However, speculations heightened with Gonalons was notably absent as Lyon released their advertising campaign for the 2014-2015 season. The current captain being left off any advertising surely suggests the team has already begun planning for life after their star departs.
We had earlier reported that the midfielder didn’t shrug off interest from the Partenopei means that he is interested in the switch to Italy. His immense experience and dazzling ability on the ball will perfectly suit Benitez’s 4-2-3-1 setup at the Stadio Sao Paolo.
“There was a lot of discussion during January and I said that any issue would be sorted out in the summer, as I wanted to see out the season,” Gonalons told RMC Sport. “At the moment, it is not right to talk about my future. First I want to finish the campaign, then we’ll see.”
Napoli are currently third in the Serie A Standings and have reached the Coppa Italian Final but will look to close to gap between runaway League winners Juventus for the next season.
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