Napoli defender Giovanni Di Lorenzo, who is impressing at the UEFA Euro 2020 with Italy, has emerged on the radars of Chelsea, Real Madrid and PSG.
According to a report from Spanish publication Defensa Central, Napoli’s Italian defender Giovanni Di Lorenzo is being monitored by some of the biggest clubs in Europe, including Chelsea and Real Madrid, the player’s agent has revealed.
Di Lorenzo has spent his entire career in Italy, having come through the youth ranks at Lucchese and Reggina and had spells at Matera and Empoli before he ended up signing for Napoli in the summer of 2019. Since then, the 27-year-old has been a regular for the Partenopei, racking up 95 appearances in which he has scored nine goals and set up 17 more.
Di Lorenzo is coming on the back of an impressive campaign with Napoli in 2020/21. He has also seemingly overtaken Alessandro Florenzi as the first-choice right-back for the Italian national team at the UEFA Euro 2020, where he has impressed. This has put him on the radars of Real Madrid as well as Chelsea this summer.
The right-back position has been one of the major problems for Real Madrid in the past year or so. Dani Carvajal has been the first choice, but the Spaniard struggled endlessly with injuries during the 2020/21 campaign. Alvaro Odriozola was rarely used and is widely expected to be on his way out this summer.
And even though Lucas Vazquez, who did a sterling job as a makeshift right-back during Carvajal’s absence in the last season, has signed a new contract, bringing in another right-back would serve Carlo Ancelotti well. To that end, Di Lorenzo can be a viable target for the Spanish capital outfit, although they could potentially face competition from Chelsea.
The Blues are also in the market for a right-back in order to provide competition for Reece James. Achraf Hakimi has emerged as the primary target. Still, his soaring price tag means the London outfit could well be forced into looking at a cheaper alternative, such as Di Lorenzo. Despite being contracted with Napoli till 2025, the latter is not expected to cost as much as Hakimi.
Speaking of the Italian and the interest in him, agent Mario Giuffredi said in an interview on ‘Radio Punto Nuovo’, “These championships are an important showcase where big clubs like Chelsea, Real Madrid, Atlético, PSG and others can turn to these players. So, if Di Lorenzo continues like this and a request comes, we must evaluate it together with Napoli because he still has four years left on his contract. It will not depend on us but on them.”
It remains to be seen whether any of the clubs monitoring Di Lorenzo do end up making an approach for the 27-year-old before the summer transfer window closes for business.
