Napoli playing the waiting game with Emerson — reports

Emerson Palmieri remains the third-choice left back at Chelsea, and while that situation surely calls for a change of scenery, there hasn’t been much development on that front. Napoli remain the favorites, with confirmed interest from new head coach Luciano Spalletti, but they are only willing to pay half the €20m fee we are asking for.

According to Gazzetta dello Sport (via Inside Futbol), the current impasse isn’t bothering Napoli however, and they are willing to wait until the end of the window in hopes that Chelsea relax our stance — or that we agree to a loan by also extending Emerson’s contract by a year (which is an option we may or may not have). Unsurprisingly, we are not particularly interested in that proposition.

There was brief talk that Emerson could be offered as a makeweight in our pursuit of Jules Koundé, but as Marca note, Sevilla are not interested. They already have Marco Acuña in their ranks, and are prepared to promote one of their youngsters as his deputy. Even if they were to sign a left back in this window, it would be someone cheaper and with a more “secondary” profile.

So, who will blink first?