This is more of a heads up than anything else, because I'm fully expecting this all to go through no problems... but Universidad de Chile President Federico Valdes has said that the transfer of Eduardo Vargas to Napoli is temporarily on hold until 90% of his $13.5M fee is paid up front, with a deadline of today:
'Frenata' della trattativa per Eduardo Vargas al Napoli. Il presidente dell'Universidad Federico Valdes spiega che ''per Vargas al Napoli non abbiamo ancora firmato, e non bisogna dare per conclusa un'operazione che non lo e'''. Il Napoli non ha ancora presentato le garanzie bancarie relative ai 13,5 milioni di dollari sui quali e' stato raggiunto l'accordo, e l'Universidad pretende il pagamento immediato del 90% della cifra. Valdes ha dato tempo al Napoli fino alla 24 di oggi (ora cilena).
-Source: ANSA.it.
Google translate's Italian isn't great, but it's certainly better than mine soooo here goes...
'Brakes' in the negotiations for Eduardo Vargas to Naples. The President of the Universidad Federico Valdes said that''for Vargas to Naples we have not yet signed, and not be taken for an operation that ended not, and'''. The Naples has not yet submitted bank guarantees for the $ 13.5 million and on which 'agreement was reached, and the University demands the immediate payment of 90% of the figure. Valdes has given time to Naples up to 24 today (now Chile).
In my opinion, this is probably a reaction by Universidad to the injury sustained by Ezequiel Lavezzi during Napoli's freak loss to Roma yesterday. With Lavezzi down until February (which is incredibly inconvenient for Chelsea, because he's back in time for the Champions League), Napoli need a player who can operate on the left side of the trident and who isn't Goran Pandev. Vargas is that man, and I'm sure Universidad know that they have their buyers over a barrel on this one, and Napoli are probably going to cave.
But since there's a deadline and everything there might be some small chance that this whole thing falls through and Vargas goes back on the market. Is that likely to happen? Of course not. But keep an eye on the situation anyway, because the Blues could get involved again if this doesn't pan out.