Napoli could make David Ospina’s loan transfer to Italy permanent as soon as January, according to reports in Italy.
Il Mattino (via TuttoMercatoWeb) report that Napoli could activate their option-to-buy in the winter window, despite having until the summer to make a decision.
The €3.2m option in Ospina’s contract with the club becomes compulsory if the Colombian makes 25 appearances, which means he only has 10 left to go between now and the end of the season before the Serie A side have no choice anyway.
That’s not a problem for Napoli though, as they’ve found Ospina to be ‘absolutely reliable’, aside from one mistake against Liverpool. He’s convinced both the club and the fans to want him to stick around beyond the end of this season.
From an Arsenal point of view, it’s better to move the goalkeeper on, because he clearly wasn’t happy playing second-fiddle in North London. If he couldn’t get into the team ahead of Petr Cech, he’s unlikely to manage it now that Bernd Leno has joined as well.
The transfer fee is hardly going to give Arsenal a major boost, but it’s an extra €61,500-a-week to add to this year’s wage budget. We’ll see what happens in January.
