Napoli risk losing Ambrosino to Modena for just €7m

Giuseppe Ambrosino is in red-hot form at Modena, and the loan deal that sent him there is starting to cause unease back in Naples. The forward, born in 2003, returned to Modena on loan in July and has four goals and two assists in this season's early games. The issue for Giovanni Manna is the clause written into the deal: a buy-back option set at just €7m in Modena's favour.

The contrast with Napoli's own attack is hard to ignore. Lorenzo Lucca, signed from Udinese to be the starting centre-forward, has yet to score in this Serie A season. With the attack struggling for goals, sending out a forward in Ambrosino's form on loan, with a buy-back option this cheap, is a decision supporters are entitled to question.

The case that comes to mind is Elia Caprile's, though the difference matters: the goalkeeper was sold outright, and Cagliari paid around €8m for him, a fee already seen as low at the time. Ambrosino's deal is structured differently — a loan, not an immediate sale — but the risk at the root is the same: a buy-back fee set so low that, if the forward keeps scoring at this rate, Napoli would be handing over another promising young player for well below his market value.

Responsibility for a call like this lies with whoever builds the squad — Manna. Setting a €7m buy-back for an attacker proving he is worth more than fringe minutes risks, at worst, sanctioning the club's own mistake in advance. If Ambrosino keeps this up through the season, Napoli — who invested in him at 20 — could find themselves asking why they never gave him more game time, rather than banking a profit that matches his form.

Modena, for now, hold only an option — nothing obliges them to exercise it straight away. But every goal Ambrosino scores in this Serie B season makes it easier for them to sign, and harder to read from Naples.