Aurelio De Laurentiis, the president of Serie A team Napoli, has sworn to stop recruiting players from Africa moving ahead.
The 73-year-old confirmed that no one should approach him about signing African players during a live-streamed event. He did, however, profess his affection for the players that are already at his club and provided a requirement before signing any players from the continent.
Following Senegal’s involvement in the Africa Cup of Nations, Kalidou Koulibaly, a former player for Napoli, was sidelined for the club for a month. Victor Osimhen, a striker for the Super Eagles, was almost signed by Naples but was disqualified from the African Cup of Nations after testing positive for Covid-19.
I told them, “lads, don’t talk to me about Africans anymore. I love them, but either they sign something confirming they’ll back out of playing the Africa Cup of Nations, or otherwise between that tournament, the World Cup qualifiers in South America, these players are never available. We are the idiots who pay salaries only to send them all over the world playing for others.
