With much speculation surrounding the future of Napoli striker Gonzalo Higuain, Partenopei president Aurelio De Laurentiis has dismissed the chances of the Argentine joining Juventus.
Last season’s capocannoniere currently has a release clause of €94.7 million in his contract, with rumours circulating that the Bianconeri were willing to meet the demands in order to snatch Higuain from the 2015-16 runners up.
“There was never any contact between Juventus and Napoli for Higuain,” De Laurentiis revealed at Monday’s meeting of the league. “[Giuseppe] Marotta confirmed to me today that Juve had no intentions of meeting his buy-out of €94.7m.
“I asked Marotta if he wanted to discuss the clause, but he assured me that it had not even crossed his mind.
“No club has made an offer, nor has Higuain told us that he wants to leave, so it is time to stop with this whole world of crap and apologise to the supporters who have been left upset by these reports.”
De Laurentiis continued to praise the Bianconeri’s way of doing business and commented that signing El Pipita would make the club extremely dislikeable.
“Juventus are an intelligent club with a lot of class,” he added. “They understand that they cannot do this.
“They have won plenty of Scudetti and understand that pursuing Higuain would be like fighting a losing battle because it would make them very difficult to like.”
