Napoli Mull Targeting Southampton Defender Next Summer | OneFootball

Napoli will shore up their squad in multiple roles next summer and have started to track Yukinari Sugawara for the right-back one. He might be on the move following Southampton’s relegation, Matteo Moretto reports (via SOSFanta).

The Partenopei are eyeing the Japanese international as a new deputy for Giovanni Di Lorenzo. Their captain will need more breathers next season. They are looking to upgrade over Pasquale Mazzocchi, who will likely head elsewhere.

Sugawara was already been linked to a couple of Serie A teams, for instance Inter, before moving to the Premier League and drawing the attention of Napoli. He has appeared 28 times this campaign, scoring and assisting once. He had a long spell at AZ Alkmaar beforehand. He was signed for €7M. The 24-year-old has 14 caps and 2 goals with Japan under his belt.

As for the other Partenopei moves, the renewal of Alex Meret is indeed imminent. It’ll likely be a two-year extension. Their officials are very keen on Igor Paixao, whom they couldn’t onboard in January because he’s extra-EU. However, Atalanta have him into their crosshairs to replace Ademola Lookman.

Our Take on Napoli and Sugawara

They’ll need a lot of reinforcements and obviously wouldn’t break the bank for all, so they’ll understandably hunt for bargains in the secondary roles. Still, it’s not so easy to poach players from England even from the Championship, and he might get the opportunity to stay in the top flight as a starter. They’ll probably make a splash for a winger, and it’ll be interesting to see whether they’ll be in the mix for Lookman. His wages would be within their reach, but his price tag will be massive.