Conor M

From Fabrizio Romano: Direct meeting took place today between Paris Saint-Germain and Napoli for Kvaratskhelia deal. PSG have total agreement with Kvara on 5 year deal, as reported last week — and talks are advancing fast on the fee. Positive talks today, agreement now close between clubs.

Tuesday afternoon would do nicely.

With who?

A small fragment of another Athletic article just up. Not Ornstein. We’re still referenced but PSG are favourites. Antonio Conte says Napoli winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia has asked to leave the club. The Athletic reported this week that Liverpool could consider a move for the Georgia international, while Paris Saint-Germain were emerging as the leading contenders for a player who features on the list of potential targets for teams including Chelsea. Napoli would be in no rush to sell the 23-year-old, whose contract expires in 2027, and would only countenance a sale for a significant fee. “If I talk, I prefer to tell it like it is. I don’t tell lies,” Napoli head coach Conte said on Saturday. “We’re talking about an important player (Kvaratskhelia), a player who when I spoke to the owner, given Zielinski and Osimhen were already on their way, and had to leave, I wanted assurances. “You need quality as well as hard work and I asked that some players not be sold. Khvicha was among these players who, and you know this very well, asked to leave in the summer. He wasn’t the only one. “We moved on from it but the work I put in to persuade players that they were fundamental to me was easily forgotten. Lots of them wanted to go down different paths. I worked at it and I’m glad they stayed and bought into the project.” GO DEEPER Khvicha Kvaratskhelia's future is uncertain - but Napoli will play hardball. They always do Conte then moved on specifically to the future of Kvaratskhelia: “He’s asked the club to be sold without beating around the bush. That’s what I’ve been told. The player has confirmed his decision to me. “Personally I’m very disappointed because for six months I’ve tried to make Kvara feel at the heart of what we’re doing here, showing him that we could do something big while working on a contract extension which, six months later, we’re still only at the start of. “On my part, there is great disappointment. I take things on the chest and I haven’t been able to make enough of an impact to make both parties get past it. Now I have to take a step back. “I can’t chain up someone who wants to leave. I did it this summer. I had six months to persuade the parties involved to find a solution. The news came like a bolt from the blue. “I’m now taking a step back and it’s right that the club and Kvara’s entourage resolve this situation. I would never want, if the player were to stay, for people to think I imposed a veto. I did it this summer in the belief I could get him to buy into the project but looking at the results I did not succeed. “He’s not available (this weekend) against Verona and we’ll see what happens. We are losing an important player.”

I was thinking it was unusually short for an athletic article and then I realised I missed half of it - enjoy: Kvaratskhelia broke into the wider consciousness during a spellbinding 2022-23 campaign at Napoli, where 12 goals and 13 assists in the league led Luciano Spalletti’s side to their first Serie A title in 33 years. The city bequeathed him a new nickname, borrowed from their greatest footballing son — ‘Kvaradona’. The 2023-24 season was less spectacular, with Napoli slumping to 10th in the league after Spalleti’s departure. However, Kvaratskhelia tallied only one fewer goal, despite suffering from a lack of continuity behind him at left-back. This season, he has five goals from 17 Serie A appearances as Napoli have re-emerged as title contenders – they currently top the table. What’s his secret? Watching Kvaratskhelia is different from watching most left-wingers — he is physically larger and stockier, with his dribbling style idiosyncratically upright. But these traits, allied with superb technical ability, force defenders into making late and hasty decisions, and he is then quick, strong and ambidextrous enough to go the other way. He has generally ranked highly for carries into the penalty area and progressive carries. His attacking game also has variety. In the 2023-24 season, just 52 per cent of his shot-creating actions — denoting the two attacking actions that lead to a shot — came from open-play passes, the third-lowest rate among forwards in Serie A that season. In this sense, Kvaratskhelia is essentially system-independent. He only needs the ball to feet and then creates his own chances.

Liverpool could consider a move to sign Khvicha Kvaratskhelia from Napoli — should it be decided that he is to exit the club in this transfer window. Kvaratskhelia, 23, has established himself among Europe’s leading attackers since arriving from Russian side Rubin Kazan in the summer of 2022. The Georgia international is under contract at Napoli until June 2027 and the lack of movement relating to a fresh deal has encouraged interest from elsewhere regarding a move to recruit him. ADVERTISEMENT Paris Saint-Germain are emerging as the leading contenders, while Kvaratskhelia also features on the list of potential targets for teams like Chelsea. Liverpool are also attentive to the situation, despite being well stocked in the wide attacking areas as things stand. Luis Diaz, Cody Gakpo, Diogo Jota and Darwin Nunez can all operate from the left-hand side; Kvaratskhelia’s most effective position. That means it may take a significant departure to create space for an addition such as Kvaratskhelia — irrespective of Napoli’s interest in Federico Chiesa, who has barely featured since making a switch to Liverpool from Juventus last August. Liverpool are not specifically chasing a player of Kvaratskhelia’s profile but he is somebody they admire, are keeping tabs on and will be ready to contend for if it becomes a market opportunity

Ornstein has just put up an article saying we may go for Kvaratskhelia.

He’s a good engineer but an absolutely s*** human being. I think he sacked 80% of Twitter staff within a year. Constant rows with the SEC because he’s doped up to the gills on Joe Rogan. We don’t need any of that. You can imagine how that might play out. Plus all the fascists, bots and freaks that follow him around.

The potential access to more cash (which we would struggle to spend under current rules) would be way more than offset by the toxicity and the chaos. He should be let nowhere near the place.

I think we still have McConnell who also featured last season and Morton and Nyoni from pre season, plus Endo/Zubimendi, McAllister, Gravenberch and Jones, all for two positions? Is that right? I’d probably rather have a smaller number of better players. I guess we’ll see how it plays out. Plus - is sales + savings in wages + a small amount of profit not the definition of PSR?

Conor not Connor I believe A common mistake.

CONOR McNamara I believe on behalf of all Conors

I went through gate B at about 8.15 - it was a mess - and they shut it straight after. Watched the queue build from the balcony inside.

Been at the rugby with Ireland here a couple of times. Never seen anything even remotely comparable to last night.