Brazilian striker is worth more say his current club.
Napoli have had a €18m bid rejected by Internacional for Brazilian striker Leandro Damiao, with the club director suggesting he is worth more.
The Partenopei have been moving forward with their plans to sign replacements for out-going striker Edinson Cavani, with the Uruguayan expected to have his move to PSG announced on Wednesday.
Rafa Benitez has all-but clinched the signing of Real Madrid’s Jose Callejon, with the Spaniard set to undergo medical tests with the club.
However, it is understood that they are looking to add further options to the squad in order to cover the loss of Cavani, and they believe Damiao could be the answer.
The 23-year-old has previously been tracked by Tottenham, while Southampton and Inter have also been credited with more recent interest.
Nevertheless, Napoli appear to be the only club to have made an official bid, with the Internacional president revealing yesterday he has had no contact with any of the interested parties.
However, that soon changed as director of football Luis Cesar Souto de Moura told Lancenet that the club had rejected an offer from the Serie A outfit.
“We received an €18m verbal offer from Napoli, according to the player’s agent,” he said as reported by football-italia.net.
“We don’t accept that this is Leandro Damiao’s value. We are certain he will play the 2014 World Cup with Brazil’s national team.
“We have not had any talks about setting a value as we don’t intend to sell the player. The offer that was presented to us was lower than what he is worth.”
There are reports in the Italian media that it will take a bid of up to €20m to persuade the Brazilian club to part with one of their most prized assets, but it remains to be seen whether or not Napoli are willing to improve their offer.
Benitez won’t be short of financial backing though, as it is expected that owner Aurelio De Laurentiis will give him the majority of the €63m received in the Cavani deal to reinvest back into the squad.
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