Napoli owner claims Man City do not have the money for Edinson Cavani

In one of humanities most remarkable discoveries in recent memory, Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis claims to have found the bottom of the bottomless pit that is Manchester City's funding vault. As one of the richest clubs in the world, Man City's transfer dealings are only limited by their willingness to fill out the required paperwork. Already this summer, they have given 40 million to Shakhtar Donetsk for Fernandinho and 20 million to Sevilla for Jesus Navas. But according to De Laurentiis, City are now too strapped for cash to afford Serie A's top scorer, Edinson Cavani.

From the Independent:

Napolis president Aurelio De Laurentiis confirmed that City had made an enquiry about a move for the forward, but they refused to meet the 54m minimum buy-out clause.

"Manchester City do not have the money to pay for Cavani," De Laurentiis told reporters. "They said 'we will never spend 63m on Cavani.

Of course, it should be noted that De Laurentiis is a bit prone to being overly dramatic. He is, after all, a producer of terrible films and he does make new signings appear before the press in lion masks. But as far as negotiation ! strategi es go, this one might be the best match to his personal ethos. A rich club won't pay the fee you demand? Then try to belittle them in public and hope that hubris clouds their judgment and drives them to increase their offer. Such a move would probably work on De Laurentiis himself, but Sheikh Mansour doesn't need to play that game.