Napoli consider move for departing Manchester City defender, wages an issue – City Watch

Soon-to-depart Manchester City left-back Gaël Clichy has been offered to Serie A club Napoli, according to Naples-based Radio Kiss Kiss.

During the radio station’s Radio Goal show yesterday, journalist Diego De Luca revealed that the Italian side have been given the chance to sign Clichy, who is officially a free agent on June 30 when his Man City contract is up.

Napoli have been thinking about it, with Faouzi Ghoulam still yet to sign a new contract, but their issue is with Clichy’s salary demands. At almost 32 years of age, €5 million-per-season seems excessive to Napoli bosses and means a deal is unlikely, if not impossible.

It has recently been claimed by L’Equipe in France that the experienced full-back is in advanced talks to join Turkish giants Fenerbahçe.

It is five days since those claims and reports in Turkey today suggest Galatasaray could make a rival bid for the free agent, while Italy’s Tuttosport idly speculates that he could be a candidate to bring in should Juventus relinquish Alex Sandro, for whom Chelsea have had a €60 million bid rejected for. That would be quite the downgrade…

Liverpool and Bordeaux have also been credited with an interest in Clichy, and his future should be defined before too long.