Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has quashed suggestions that star midfielder Marek Hamsik will leave the club in the summer.
The 23-year-old Slovakia international is one of the best players on Napoli’s books and had a good 2010-11 campaign. Hamsik scored 11 goals and providing seven assists in 37 league appearances, helping the two-time Italian champions finish third in Serie A and automatically qualify for next season’s Champions League.
European giants Inter and AC Milan have both been linked with big-money bids for the star player, with the latter’s CEO Adriano Galliani telling reporters earlier on Thursday that he is one of the midfielders whom they could try to land this summer.
However, De Laurentiis, who has always insisted that none of his star players will leave Napoli, has now responded to the latest reports with vehemence.
Talking on Marte Sport Live, the Napoli patron stated: “I tell the fans to stay calm. When a [transfer] market opens everyone wants to buy, but 95 per cent of it is just talk. Napoli fans are intelligent and shouldn’t be taken for a ride by the media.
“If someone wants one of our players then they have to come and ask me. There is no need for chatter and no need to shout. If someone wants to buy one of my players, who no longer shows a desire to wear these magnificent Azzurri colours, then someone is going to have to put their hand in their pocket.”
De Laurentiis then spoke on the issue of Hamsik leaving the club and said: “When [Inter president Massimo] Moratti called me I told him that I would never sell Hamsik. Galliani has asked me nothing.
"Napoli are not a supermarket. Perhaps you can describe us as a jewellery store, but people are scared by our prices.”