De Laurentiis wants the striker to decide before the Confederations Cup is over.
Chelsea and Real Madrid target Edison Cavani has been given until the end of the Confederations Cup on July 20 to decide his future by Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis.
The saga involving the Uruguayan’s transfer from the Stadio San Paolo has been ongoing for several weeks, with Madrid and the Blues leading the race to sign the striker.
De Laurentiis has been heavily involved with all the negotiations with Cavani and whether he will move or not and wants the 26-year-old to have decided for certain before he returns from the current international tournament – where he is playing with Uruguay.
“I trust in Cavani, I think that he’s a good man and he has the opportunity to prove it by staying at Napoli,” the president was quoted in Marca.
“I think that the Cavani ‘soap opera’ will come to an end on 20 July, which is when he returns from the Confederations Cup. If it doesn’t, I’ll rip his head off.
“Does anyone think that I’ll let Cavani leave on 10 August, with the league campaign about to kick off?”
Whilst much of De Laurentiis’ comments were said with his tongue firmly in his cheek, the general sentiments were definitely there and the president is certainly not prepared for the saga to rumble on for too long.
This may give Chelsea confidence as they will know for sure if they have landed Cavani in just over three weeks and if not, will still have plenty of time to switch their focus elsewhere.
It’s still unknown whether the striker will pick Stamford Bridge or the Santiago Bernabeu next season, but it’s unlikely he will be playing his trade in Naples in 2013/14.
Watch Cavani netting a fine goal against Venezuela below:
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