Napoli are reportedly working on a deal to trigger the €30m release clause of Real Betis midfielder Fabian Ruiz.
In Italy, all of Sky Sport Italia, La Gazzetta dello Sport and Sportitalia are reporting the Naples-based club have identified the 22-year-old as the ideal replacement for Manchester City-bound Jorginho.
Fabian netted three times with six assists in 34 La Liga appearances for Betis in his breakthrough season, while he is also a Spain Under-21 international.
However, earlier this week Los Verdiblancos president Angel Haro insisted that they had not received any offers for the star and were attempting to extend his contract.
“Offer from Napoli? We haven’t had any contract with them,” Haro told Radio CRC.
“I can assure you that we haven’t received any offers from any club for Fabian Ruiz and we’ve not had any contact with Napoli.
“I realise it’s not necessary for someone to make us an offer, since the player has a release clause, but what I can say is that we won’t deal with anyone or evaluate anything other than his entire release clause.
“Our desire is to keep the player. De Laurentiis (Napoli president)? I don’t know him personally, but we’ve been in contact before, two years ago when we tried to sign David Lopez, who ended up re-joining Espanyol.
“Are Betis trying to extend Fabian’s contract? We’d like to try, yes, raising both his salary and release clause.
“It’s very difficult because it’s obvious that the lad is waiting to understand what’s happening around him and whether he receives a more ambitious offer elsewhere.
“Still, nothing’s definite. I think we still have a chance to convince him into signing a new contract.”
