Arsenal can thank Conte for Gyokeres as €200m REGRET revealed

Napoli president Aurelio de Laurentiis has revealed that he could have signed Viktor Gyokeres last summer had it not been for Antonio Conte.

The Swedish sharpshooter completed a blockbuster €67.5 million transfer to Arsenal earlier this summer, getting his dream move to North London after a lengthy and controversial saga.

The 27-year-old essentially went on strike to force through his move after claiming that Sporting CP reneged on an agreement to let him leave for €70m this summer.

It was asserted that this alleged promise was made by then-director Hugo Viana, now at Man City, last summer in a bid to keep Gyokeres for one more season amid widespread interest following a stunning debut season.

Gyokeres scored 43 goals in his first year in Lisbon and was ultimately convinced to stay, which then saw him net 54 goals in his sophomore campaign.

Napoli wanted to sign Gyokeres

Napoli president Aurelio de Laurentiis has now revealed that he was among Gyokeres’ suitors last summer. At the time, he was in talks with PSG over a €200m double deal for Victor Osimhen and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and wanted to spend those funds on the Swede.

However, Antonio Conte, who had just been appointed as new head coach, insisted on keeping Kvaratskhelia, so De Laurentiis did not get his €200m windfall and did not manage to sign Gyokeres.

“At the end of the second year of his [Kvaratskhelia’s] contract, there was the European championship in Germany,” De Laurentiis explained in an interview with Corriere della Sera.

“[Giovanni] Manna, [Andrea] Chiavelli and I flew to Dusseldorf to resolve the situation, but Mamuka Jugeli [his agent] continued to stall, claiming that [ex-Napoli director Cristiano] Giuntoli had promised him money that was never paid. A lie, easy to verify.

“I could have sold him at that point: PSG had offered over €200m for the Kvara-Osimhen package. However, I had promised Conte to keep him, and I didn’t feel right about it. The idea was to use those funds to buy Gyokeres.”

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