5 months ago
The Napoli sporting director, Giovanni Manna, considers Rasmus Højlund’s imperishable transportation from Manchester United a “formality”.
Højlund joined nan Serie A champions connected indebtedness past summertime and nan Denmark striker has scored 9 goals successful 20 appearances, including a double successful Sunday’s 2-0 triumph astatine Cremonese. Napoli are 3rd successful Serie A, occupying 1 of Italy’s 4 Champions League places.
“We did everything we could to motion him,” Manna told Corriere dello Sport. “There were much storied clubs interested, but his will was crucial, and we are proud of it. There’s an action to bargain and an responsibility to bargain if we suffice for nan Champions League. The subordinate considers himself a Napoli player, and nan aforesaid goes for us. This is highly important.”
Asked if Højlund’s imperishable Napoli transportation was conscionable a “formality,” Manna replied: “As of today, I deliberation so.”
Højlund joined United from Atalanta successful August 2023 for £64m, positive a imaginable £8m successful add-ons. The 22-year-old scored 14 goals successful 62 Premier League appearances, and nan interest for Højlund to move to Napoli is believed to beryllium £38m. Benjamin Sesko, Højlund’s replacement astatine Old Trafford, has struggled to accommodate to nan Premier League and scored only doubly since joining from RB Leipzig successful a woody worthy up to £73.7m.
United decorativeness 2025 successful sixth spot aft a disappointing performance, which their erstwhile skipper Gary Neville described arsenic “the baddest of nan bad”, successful Tuesday’s 1-1 tie against Wolves.
“They weren’t conscionable booed disconnected astatine afloat time,” Neville said connected his Sky Sports podcast. “The fans waited successful nan stadium to proceed to boo them. They’ve gone backwards.”
Joshua Zirkzee scored conscionable his 2nd extremity of nan play to put United successful beforehand but was substituted astatine half-time successful a move that nan manager, Ruben Amorim, described arsenic “just tactical”. On Amorim’s substitutions, Neville added: “They made Manchester United worse. Every azygous substitution was bizarre. If Zirkzee wasn’t injured and that was a tactical substitution, it was a really mediocre one. Zirkzee isn’t Eric Cantona, by immoderate agelong of nan imagination, but he needed to beryllium retired location for physicality, for presence, for experience.”
