With signs of Napoli already looking for his replacement, it’s reasonable to believe Chelsea are willing to activate the release clause in order to sign Edinson Cavani and get their first huge signing in a summer that might include quite a few.
According to the Italian Mediaset, this will not be the exchange deal involving Fernando Torres that was buzzing around. Rafa Benitez would like to see the Spanish striker play for him once more, but Napolo prefer going for Stephan El Shaarawy from AC Milan (for €30 million), who hasn’t really been himself in terms of scoring since the arrival of Mario Balotelli.
And how will they pay this huge transfer fee? Napoli insisted that they weren’t selling Cavani unless someone met their demands of paying the full fee of his release clause, standing at €63 million. There’s no financial crisis at the club, and Cavani, while looking forward towards a move to a richer club, hasn’t been making departure demands. Napoli have the luxury of being patient with this deal, unless they get an amount they simply can’t refuse.
So while saying goodbye to Cavani, who has scored 104 goals in 138 matches for the club over the last three seasons is painful, it does allow them to receive a sum that should allow them to bring in a player many think is going to be a huge star in Italy for a very long time.
Jose Mourinho, on the other hand, is hoping this is just the beginning. Never willing to go into a new role without major reinforcement from the owner’s cheque book, Mourinho won’t be satisfied with just one signing, He’s planning on making quite a few moves that will make Chelsea a team he feels confident can be dominant on all fronts, and in the meantime make the most expensive signing we will probably see this summer, unless Gareth Bale or Cristiano Ronaldo are actually for sale.