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Chelsea and Manchester City set to be priced out of Edinson Cavani move by PSG as Laurent Blanc speaks of 'love' for the Napoli striker

French champions prepare £50m bid for Napoli striker according to reports in France

Jack de Menezes
Wednesday 03 July 2013 15:18 BST
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Edinson Cavani
Edinson Cavani

Paris Saint-Germain look set to compete with Chelsea and Real Madrid for the transfer of Napoli’s Edinson Cavani, with the Ligue 1 champions preparing a £50 million bid for the striker.

Cavani has been the most talked about transfer through the summer so far, with Europe’s biggest clubs looking to sign the striker after a string of impressive seasons with the Italian club.

But the stumbling block for any potential move has been Napoli’s president Aurelio de Laurentiis’ refusal to accept any bid below the stiker’s buy-out clause of £53m.

Having lost their manager to Madrid, PSG are keen to re-stress that they are a contender in the European elite, and a confirmation of that would be beating Ancelotti’s side to the signing of Cavani.

De Laurentiis said on Tuesday that no formal offer had been made for the 26-year-old, but reports in France suggested that Cavani’s agentm Pierpaolo Triulzi, was seen in Paris on Monday ahead of meeting with PSG’s technical director Leonardo.

Former Napoli forward Ezequiel Lavezzi is already at the Paris club, and it is thought relations between the two sides remain positive following the Argentinians move last year.

New PSG boss Laurent Blanc today spoke of his admiration for the player.

"He is a player that I love, like a lot of people.

"I saw him play several times with Naples and Uruguay, and should he be part of the Parisian team, I would be very happy."

Cavani is currently on holiday having been on Confederations Cup duty with Uruguay, with his national side losing the third-place play-off to Italy on Sunday, but he is expected to meet with the Napoli president upon his return “to look at my future with my representatives”.

Chelsea had previously made an enquiry over the asking price of Cavani in the hope that an intention of transfer would lower the fee asked by the Naples club, but the refusal to budge over the £53m has caused them to back away from the move for the time being.

Manchester City have also distanced themselves from the move due to the hefty fee, though should new manager Manuel Pellegrini feel the need to strengthen their attack following the departure of Carlos Tevez, he may well make a move for Cavani.

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