Napoli 'smell blood' & target Premier League's discarded stars

Sun, sea and a city basking in the triumphant glow of its recent Scudetto. Naples is an easy sell for wealthy footballers looking for a new experience this summer.

"If you are rich, Naples is amazing," lauds journalist Vincenzo Credendino. "One day you pick up the boat you go to Capri, another day you go to Amalfi, to Pompeii. You eat good, there are a lot of things to do. Naples, if you are rich, is very attractive. It has always been like this."

While estate agents have long pointed new arrivals to the luxury hillside villas of Posillipo, it is a recent phenomenon that those enticed to Napoli by president Aurelio de Laurentiis are coming from the Premier League.

After Scott McTominay, who joined from Manchester United, earned cult status in Campania for spearheading Napoli's Serie A success, the film producer-turned-football club owner returned to add six-time Premier League winner Kevin de Bruyne to head coach Antonio Conte's ranks.

He joins Romelu Lukaku and Billy Gilmour as others prised from the Premier League payroll since the Conte era began last summer.

And there could be more.

De Bruyne's former City team-mate Jack Grealish - a £100m signing from Aston Villa four years ago - has also been linked, as has United winger Alejandro Garnacho, while Credendino believes there is interest in United and England forward Jadon Sancho, who spent last season on loan at Chelsea.

"People in Napoli are thinking Aurelio de Laurentiis is going crazy," laughs Credendino. "In our mind, he is the president who tries to win, clearly, but always by putting the finances first, always being very careful about the economic side and doing a lot of player trading.

"That was the core business of Napoli. Now things have changed. Aurelio de Laurentiis is smelling the blood of the opponent, of the enemies."