Garnacho interest confirmed by club but Man Utd warned over price tag

Napoli have warned Manchester United that they would be willing to ditch their Alejandro Garnacho move should the price be too high.

The Serie A leaders have emerged as serious contenders for the 20-year-old’s signature before the end of the winter window. Garnacho is expected to leave after struggling to make a mark under new boss Ruben Amorim.

The Argentine is seen as an ideal replacement for Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who moved to Paris Saint-Germain earlier this month. But Napoli sporting director Giovanni Manna has said his side will not pay over the odds for the United star having already seen a €50 million offer rejected.

Speaking to DAZN, he said: "These are two names [Garnacho and Karim Adeyemi] that are of interest to us, they are players we like, but they are not the only ones. We are trying to evaluate a few things and looking at the opportunities, but we certainly will not pay prices that are outside the market value.

"We made this sale [Kvaratskhelia] that unfortunately was necessary for what the player wanted and our dynamics. We will respect our parameters, not just for the transfer fee, but also the salary.

"We are evaluating a few situations, it would not be right to give our fans false hope, but we will certainly do what is best to improve the squad."

United are thought to be demanding around £70m should they sell Garnacho over the next week. And while Napoli are contenders for Garnacho’s services, the same could be said for Premier League rivals Chelsea.

The Blues are eyeing a move, with United potentially interested in a swoop for Christopher Nkunku. Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca was recently asked about a potential deal for Garnacho and while he did not rule it out entirely, suggested it was not something he was actively pursuing.

“I’m happy with what we have in this moment,” said Maresca. “On the right side there’s Pedro [Neto] and Noni [Madueke], on the left there’s Jadon [Sancho]. Misha [Mudryk] was with us, now he’s not. Tyrique [George] is a young profile that can help us so in this moment we are OK.

“We pay attention (to the market) if something can happen. But 10 days to go, we didn’t do anything, just we called back Trev (Chalobah). We’ll see in the next 10 days if something is going to happen.”