Just under two years after leading Napoli to the Italian league title, the club look set to lose both Victor Osimhen and Kvicha Kvaratskhelia after manager, Antonio Conte, revealed that the latter has requested to leave the Serie A club.
Kvaratskhelia’s transfer request comes less than six months after Osimhen also made his intentions clear about leaving Napoli, leading to the Super Eagles striker moving on loan to Galatasaray after talks with PSG and Chelsea for a permanent transfer collapsed.
Now, the Georgia international, who was instrumental to the Partenopei’s Serie A title triumph in 2023, is set to bid farewell after less than three seasons at Naples – with Conte confirming the player has asked to leave the club in January.
Speaking during a press conference ahead of Napoli’s Serie A clash against Hellas Verona, Conte said: “We are talking about an important player, last summer I talked about it with the president and urged the confirmation of important players because I wanted to be certain from a technical perspective.”
Conte added: “Although he and others had asked to be transferred, I worked on it and managed to keep those I wanted. He (Kvaratskhelia) has asked the club to leave.”
The Napoli manager did not hide his frustration in failing to convince the 23-year-old to stay at the club, stating: “I’m disappointed, it was a sudden blow and I had to take a step back.”
Conte went on to say: “If he were to stay, I wouldn’t want him to think I forced him to. I did it last summer thinking I could convince him of the club’s project but obviously, it didn’t work. We are losing an important player.”
Kvaratskhelia has been linked with Liverpool although is heavily reported to favour a move to Ligue 1 giants PSG and has reportedly agreed personal terms with the French capital club.