Liverpool warned off €20m Argentine raid
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Liverpool warned off €20m Argentine raid
Liverpool have been told to forget about launching a €20 million summer bid for Napoli’s Ezequiel Lavezzi.
Rafa Benitez is desperate to add a world class attacking talent to play alongside Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard next season, following the failure of Tottenham's Robbie Keane.
Lavezzi is the current Napoli number seven, a man dubbed ‘the new Maradona’ during his time at Boca Juniors although his style of football has also drawn comparisons to Carlos Tevez.
Benitez wants to find a man who can ‘float between the lines’ and, while seven league goals in 28 appearances in not prolific, Lavezzi has creativity in abundance.
Reports suggest Liverpool would be ready to match the €20 million they spent on Robbie Keane to land the Napoli star, but club director Pierpaolo Marino insists both Lavezzi and Marek Hamsik will not be sold.
"He and Hamsik will not move, so write it on a sign," Marino told Calciomercato.
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Lavezzi set for Liverpool switch?
Liverpool target Ezequiel Lavezzi is the subject of a bid from a major English club, according to his agent.
Rafa Benitez has been strongly linked with a move for the Napoli striker, and the player’s agent, Alejandro Mazzoni, claimed earlier this month that The Reds had seen an offer rejected.
However, Mazzoni has now revealed that a fresh offer is on the table and, as the 24-year-old Argentina international is unhappy with the way he has been treated by club president Aurelio De Laurentiis, he has suggested that the deal may be likely to go through.
"His stay depends entirely on Napoli, but I think that the club is now intending to sell him," he told Radio Kiss Kiss.
“Napoli have not kept the promises they made to Lavezzi.
“I'm waiting for a call from [Napoli sporting director] Pierpaolo Marino about a meeting with the president, so it's a bit difficult for us to know what Napoli want.
“The last time I saw the director, I told him that there had been a bid from a foreign club for Lavezzi.
“The president, though, has not even responded.”
Asked if the offer was from Liverpool, he said: “I am not authorised to talk about it, but I can say that there was a genuine offer and Marino rejected it.
“What counts, though, is what happens with Napoli and, at the moment, we do not have any relationship with them at all.
“Marino had promised Lavezzi an improved contract, but we have not heard anything since.”
He added: “Today there is an offer for the player and I have the impression that the club wants to sell him.
“I would like to stress that Napoli are important to Lavezzi, but we are talking about an English club in the Champions League and, moreover, they are offering him three times what he earns now.
“Players are not slaves – they are people.”