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So Edinson Cavani completed his anxiously awaited move to PSG yesterday, bringing an end to constant speculation, or, as many Chelsea fans saw it, constant pining for a transfer.
Aurelio De Laurentiis, who'll now surely be laughing his way to the bank, talked about the deal shortly before setting off to do exactly that. According to the Napoli President, all the clubs mentioned over the course of the past month got involved, and to varying degrees:
"Manchester City wanted to take Cavani but they never arrived at a certain fee.
"He [Cavani] had already asked to go away last summer but then we found the agreement to extend his contract until 2017.
"In these cases you put in the buy-out clause hoping that no-one will pay it.
"Real Madrid refused immediately to pay this fee, the same for City, while Chelsea never came forward."
Remember a couple of weeks back when De Laurentiis emphatically denied any Chelsea bids for his star hit man? Media outlets from Italy were in full, contradictory flow around that time, including Sky Italia's Tancredi megaphone, who earned himself thousands of new followers piggybacking on the speculation persisting throughout in the Cavani soap opera.
Anyway, the Napoli President has stayed on his word, insisting there was no concrete expression of interest from Chelsea. While City's involvement was understandable, owing to FSW's interest in bringing Dzeko to Napoli, Real's mooted inquiry, it turns out, was actually real.
What is a little surprising however, and largely due to the humongous body of [supposed] reported evidence, is that Chelsea were never really in for the Uruguayan, gargantuan transfer fees or not*. If De Laurentiis is indeed telling the truth, it's probably simply another reminder of just how much liberty the press take, extrapolating on the basis of little evidence, coherent or not. If he isn't, well, did you know Italian club presidents are doggone lunatics?
*Not to mention how much faith the club has in its current strike battery. So there.
