Chelsea in move for Serie A’s 2012/13 top scorer
Published:Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has confirmed that Chelsea have made enquiries as to the availability of the club’s cherished goal machine Edinson Cavani.
It’s thought that the Uruguyan will form part of triumvirate of signings for the club ahead of the first season of Jose Mourinho’s second coming – Stevan Jovetic and Hulk are also reportedly incoming – and his talents will be well known to the Portuguese gaffer, who was managing Inter during his breakout season at Palermo.
At Napoli Cavani has been a revelation, scoring at least 23 league times in each of his three seasons with the Azurri, and he already finds himself just 11 goals short of the club record currently held by legend-of-legends Diego Maradona.
A natural finisher who relishes getting his head on balls in the mixer, Cavani could be just the kind of whole-hearted, all-action Didier-Drogba-replacement that £50m try-hard Fernando Torres was supposed to be.
With Mourinho favouring a single central striker at both Inter and Real Madrid, the Uruguyan’s arrival is likely to shuffle Torres and Demba Ba ever further from a guaranteed starter’s spot.
However it’s far from certain that the 32-goal forward wants to leave San Paolo.
The Napoli man’s brother Walter Guglielmone told Italian radio station Kiss Kiss that he believes at present that Cavani “will play again for Napoli”, also confirming that the club had heard nothing by way of an offer from Chelsea’s fellow suitors Real Madrid.
That Madrid’s past interest in securing this year’s Serie A top scorer has cooled suggests it may have been Mourinho’s admiration that had been responsible for the club’s links with Cavani in the past.
Whilst becoming the Naples club’s all-time top scorer could be a motivation to stay put, the sands at San Paolo are shifting, with manager/architect of the Napoli renaissance Walter Mazarri departing for the Inter hot-seat this summer.
Given it seems like the end of an era in which the object of Chelsea’s ardour made his name at the club has arrived, now may prove as good a time as any for his big move.
Chelsea are currently 9/4 third favourites to lift next season’s Premier League title.
