Napoli Transfer Market: Eyes Turn to Turin for a Blockbuster Deal
Federico Gatti is keeping a close eye on his future. After a season in which he wasn’t always a first-choice player, the defender is aware that he might see even less playing time at Juventus under Luciano Spalletti, who has been confirmed as head coach. This situation has inevitably sparked interest from several clubs in search of a reliable and experienced center back.
Among the clubs that have taken the first steps is Napoli, which—with the arrival of Mario Gila now off the table—has returned to evaluating the Juventus defender. The Azzurri are trying to determine Juventus’s asking price and whether there is room to negotiate a deal, although the possibility of a loan appears unlikely at this time.
The Turin-based club values Gatti at around 25 million euros, a figure that could, however, be revised if Napoli decides to include Stanislav Lobotka in the deal. The Slovak midfielder is, in fact, a player particularly favored by Luciano Spalletti and could be the key to breaking the deadlock in any negotiations between the two clubs.
It’s no coincidence that Lobotka’s name has been on Juventus’s radar for several months now. As he builds the new Juventus, Spalletti has identified the signing of a playmaker capable of bringing fluidity to the team’s play—with characteristics similar to those of the Slovakian—as an absolute priority. It’s a profile the Tuscan coach knows well from his time at Napoli and considers ideal for his system of play.
It should be noted, after all, that Gatti’s departure is part of a squad restructuring plan that Juventus has been planning for some time. The defender, who arrived from Frosinone in 2022 for 9 million euros and made 132 appearances for the Bianconeri with 11 goals, gradually lost his place in Spalletti’s pecking order, falling behind Bremer, Kalulu, and Kelly. This situation had prompted him to consider offers as early as the winter transfer window, when concrete interest had come from Premier League clubs such as West Ham, Everton, Leeds, and Newcastle.
As for Napoli, however, the deal for Gila has definitively fallen through as Milan swooped in: the Rossoneri reached an agreement with the Lazio defender on a five-year contract worth 5 million net per season, leaving De Laurentiis’s club on the hunt for alternatives. For the Azzurri’s new coach, Massimiliano Allegri—who had identified Gila as a top defensive priority—this was a major setback right at the start of his Neapolitan adventure. Gatti, who had previously been identified as a Plan B to the Spaniard, thus returns forcefully to the top of the list of candidates to bolster the Neapolitan backline.
