Napoli willing to play waiting game with Chelsea over Emerson — report

In the final days of the summer transfer window, Napoli managed to acquire Tiémoué Bakayoko on “dry” loan from Chelsea, after all other avenues had closed and more permanent deals fallen through for the club and the 26-year-old midfielder. Napoli were thus able to bring in a player who has since become a key player for them for just €5m in loan fees, and no further obligations or future clauses.

Now they’re hoping to pull off a similarly advantageous arrangement for left back Emerson Palmieri, who’s not entirely happy to be a backup and may look to move in search of more regular minutes ahead of next summer’s European Championships. Emerson, who’s been linked multiple times with Napoli since the latter part of last season, has featured in all but one of Italy’s last six matches, starting four, and he will surely want to keep that up as we head into the new year.

That’s the story from Corriere dello Sport, who are calling this an “onerous” loan play for the Partenopei, but one that would be worth the effort in order to boost the squad’s options for the second half of the season.

The report claims that Chelsea are willing to entertain only a €10m transfer, which follows similar claims from Emerson’s agent (sans transfer fee) about Chelsea not willing to let Emerson leave on loan. But that’s where Bond villain Aurelio De Laurentiis’ masterplan (and patience) come into play.

That said, ADL might not be able to pull off the same trick this time, as Chelsea need Emerson a lot more than we needed Bakayoko — especially if Marcos Alonso leaves next month, as has been strongly rumored in recent weeks. If Alonso joins Atlético Madrid (or whoever), then Chelsea would surely not let Emerson leave regardless of timing, unless it’s an offer that we couldn’t refuse, which a simple loan certainly would not be.