Naples, Ostigard arrives from Brighton: an offer of 8 million accepted

From our correspondent Maurizio Nicita

& commat; handles 50

July 12
– DIMARO (Trento)

We are in the details, the official will arrive in a few days, but Leo Ostigard becomes the third purchase of the new Napoli, the fourth from an economic point of view since the club has redeemed the Cameroonian midfielder Frank Anguissa from Fulham for 15 million euros. The deal will close for a total of around 8 million: 5 immediately and another 2 or 3 in a year to redeem the card, with parameters linked to various bonuses. The British wanted a total of 10 but now the corners have been rounded. There are still no signatures on all the documents but yesterday the situation was unblocked with those of Brighton who had to take note of the player’s will. Leo was impressed by the enthusiasm of the Maradona stadium, touched on last May 15 when he played in Naples with Genoa, attending the farewell party for captain Insigne in a full stadium.

cannavaro model

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And there is another detail in the life of this 22-year-old defensive center, for which Naples had been in his destiny for a long time. Leo was about 10 years old and was attending the football school of Andalsnes, his country’s team, when one of his first coaches told him that he resembled Fabio Cannavaro in physical qualities and also in the search for an advance. On his return home, the Norwegian child asked to be able to log in to his PC to see this great defender who had lifted the World Cup in Berlin on Youtube. That image still serves as the background on the defender’s smartphone display. Yes, because from that moment Cannavaro becomes Leo’s idol, fascinated by that champion he tries to resemble even in his shaved hair.

features

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Beyond these romantic aspects, in the six months in which he played for Genoa, Ostigard stood out for his competitive position, the head-off and the sense of anticipation. So much so that he quickly became an idol of Genoa fans. Now the qualitative leap in Naples, where he will be able to play the Champions League. Among other things, Leo is a good friend of Haaland, the new Manchester City center forward with whom he made the whole process of the Norwegian youth team. And Ostigard played as a starter in the senior national team in June, in the match they won in Oslo against Sweden 3-2 in Nations.

in retreat

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Sporting director Cristiano Giuntoli got the go-ahead from president Aurelio De Laurentiis and accelerated for two reasons: to avoid competition from other English clubs, and not only, and at the same time to make a more complete team available to Luciano Spalletti. possible. As soon as the clubs formally conclude the contract, the player will arrive in Italy to undergo medical examinations. Calculating that he still needs a few days to finish the process, it is unlikely that Ostigard will have time to join his new team in Trentino. His presence is more certain in Abruzzo, in Castel di Sangro, where from 23 July the Azzurri will support the second part of the preparation.

role and expectations

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The purchase of Ostigard is not linked to the Koulibaly situation. Indeed, Napoli hopes that the Scandinavian can grow alongside the Senegalese champion. The club is confident with this signing that it has taken on an important prospect just as Kalidou was when he arrived at Napoli in 2014, practically at the same age as the Norwegian, a young hope from Genk. Leo seems to have the qualities to be able to grow over the years and become very strong in his role. In the meantime, he will present himself to the Napoli fans with a small medal on his chest: his only goal in the Italian midseason was scored with Milan in the Italian Cup.

reflection

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Once this operation has also been completed, Napoli considers the squad to be complete, as soon as another goalkeeper is hired to support Meret (by the way, David Ospina officially joined the Al Nassr Saudis yesterday). Then it will be necessary to see what will happen with Koulibaly and if an important operation will be made in attack, especially if someone goes away between Politano and Petagna.