Premier League side Newcastle United have shown some serious interest in signing Napoli attacker Khvicha Kvaratskhelia who has lit up Serie A since arriving from Dinamo Batumi.
Despite only being in Italy for a few months, the Georgian is now the target of interest from a number of big and wealthy clubs who firmly believe that Napoli have uncovered a gem.
As has been reported by The Times, he is now a major transfer target for Newcastle who, having been bought by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, are in a very strong financial situation. That money and the work of Eddie Howe has taken them to third in the Premier League table.
He was scouted regularly by Newcastle before the break for the 2022 Qatar World Cup and he is now a main target for the next two transfer windows.
How much would Khvicha Kvaratskhelia cost?
Newcastle seem to think that they could secure Kvaratskhelia’s services for a fee in the region of around €57 million – £50 million. Napoli only paid €10m to sign him from Dinamo Batumi in the summer, so that would be a remarkable capital gain for the Azzurri.
There has been no suggestion that Napoli are entertaining the idea of a January sale, but the club would likely be happy to listen to lucrative offers in the summer as they are often willing to sell their best stars for the right profit.
They will have to fend off the interest from plenty of other clubs as the likes of Liverpool, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United have all been rumoured to be interested.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia at Napoli so far
To say that Khvicha Kvaratskhelia has taken Serie A by storm would be an understatement. People familiar with Georgian football had suggested that he was a very exciting player, but no one expected him to get six goals and seven assists in his first 12 Serie A games.
He also scored twice and got three assists in five Champions League group games, and he has five goals and three assists for Georgia in the UEFA Nations League.
Everything about the player’s body language suggests that he is only focused on getting even better at Napoli and there appears to be no ego at all, at least not from the outside looking in.
There is a huge queue of clubs looking to take him away from Serie A and it is a move that will likely wait until the summer at the earliest.
