Napoli president and owner Aurelio De Laurentiis has revealed that he tried to bring current Inter manager Antonio Conte to Napoli a few years ago.
“I have an excellent relationship with Antonio. We hung out, swimming in the Maldivian sea, where I also met his extraordinary family,” he said in an interview with Corriere dello Sport.
“Long before Ancelotti, when Conte was in London, I bombarded him with questions, asking him to come to Naples. He replied that the contract he had with Chelsea prevented him from talking to third parties. I think it was true because he took a year off before working in Italy again.”
De Laurentiis then discussed the move he made to try and sign Mauro Icardi from Inter during the Summer transfer window.
“I offered Inter €60m plus bonuses, for a total of €65m, while I proposed Wanda Nara a gross salary of around €12m for her husband.
“Icardi isn’t stupid and maybe he felt that to re-launch himself on a European level, he had to go to a team like the PSG, where he could stand out more easily than at Napoli. For him, it was the best choice.”
