Anguissa wants €6m a year, Napoli says no

The Cameroon midfielder is asking for almost double the €3.6m net he earns now, a gap the club is not willing to close, while Giovanni Manna already watches a Portuguese midfielder as a possible successor.

by Rosaria CimminoThursday 8 October, 21:14 CET· yesterday

André-Frank Anguissa — Foto: Дмитрий Садовник · CC BY-SA 3.0

Frank Zambo Anguissa's renewal talks have stalled over money. The Cameroon midfielder has asked for around €6m a season, almost double the €3.6m net he currently earns at Napoli. For Aurelio De Laurentiis's club, that figure is out of reach, and the contract extension talks have not moved.

Anguissa's deal runs until 30 June 2027, and the risk of losing him for nothing is already on Giovanni Manna's desk. The sporting director has spent days weighing an early sale in January rather than letting him leave for free. What has now emerged is the profile lined up to replace him: Gedson Fernandes.

The Gedson Fernandes profile

The Portuguese midfielder is a left-sided or central midfielder in a three-man midfield, or an interior in a two, but he can also play as an attacking midfielder, as a right-sided midfielder, and in an emergency even at right-back. He has technical quality in tight spaces, the ability to create a numerical advantage in one-on-ones, and uses his long levers to shield the ball — qualities that let him draw a lot of fouls and clear difficult balls under pressure. He is an aggressive player who gives balance by winning back a high number of balls per game.

Gedson Fernandes is not the only name on Manna's list for the midfield: the sporting director is also following Mamadou Coulibaly of Monaco, Sebastian Szymański of Rennes, and Adrian Bernabé of Parma, the last of whom is valued at €20-25m and is also watched by Inter and Juventus. A return for Elmas from Atalanta remains an open but undefined option. The list stays frozen, though, until Napoli sell.

The midfield already has a real emergency on its hands. Anguissa is doubtful for Saturday 10 October's game against Frosinone with a recurring adductor problem, as Napoli go into the Maradona fixture ninth in the table with 7 points from 5 games. He is not an isolated case: Kevin De Bruyne is also out of contract on 30 June 2027, with no agreement yet on an extension.

Napoli now have two key midfield players running down their contracts in the same month, with neither negotiation close to a resolution — a coincidence that weighs doubly on a squad already hit hard by muscle injuries in midfield. The January window, which reopens on 2 January 2027, will show whether Manna chooses to bring forward Anguissa's exit or risks losing him for nothing at the end of the season.