Celta Vigo were expecting Stanislav Lobotka to exit the club this summer amid intense interest from leading European clubs, say Marca.
The Slovakian midfielder has a €50m release clause in his contract with the Galician club while Napoli reportedly had a €35m bid rejected earlier in the summer.
Paris Saint-Germain were also interested and were said to be lining up Lobotka in case of Adrien Rabiot’s exit, but these deals never materialised.
The 23-year-old joined Celta only a year ago from Danish club Nordsjaelland in a reported €4m deal and Marca say they signed €8m midfielder Fran Beltran from Rayo Vallecano this summer as his replacement.
Celta now have a stronger squad than they had anticipated and this has been reflected in their opening results this season – picking up seven points from three games including Saturday’s 2-0 win over Atletico Madrid.
