Napoli sporting director Giovanni Manna confirmed his club’s interest in signing Manchester United forward Alejandro Garnacho, but warned that they would not overpay for the mercurial winger.

The Serie A side have been on the lookout for attacking reinforcements since selling Khvicha Kvaratskhelia to Paris Saint-Germain earlier this month. Napoli were quickly linked with United’s fleet-footed forward, but appeared to have lost ground to Chelsea in the race for Garnacho’s signature, with a move for Borussia Dortmund forward Karim Adeyemi also put forward.

Manna took the unusually bold approach of directly addressing these rumours before Napoli hosted Juventus on Saturday evening. “These are two names that are of interest to us, they are players we like, but they are not the only ones,” the sporting director told DAZN.

“We are trying to evaluate a few things and looking at the opportunities, but we certainly will not pay prices that are outside the market value.”

The sale of Kvaratskhelia, which was instigated by the player, raised around €70m (£59m) before add-ons are included. That may have given Napoli some spending power this summer, but Manna was adamant that they would not give in to any extortionate demands – from the club or the player. United, for their part, are thought to have dropped Garnacho’s asking price to around £50m.

“We made this sale that unfortunately was necessary for what the player wanted and our dynamics,” Manna outlined. “We will respect our parameters, not just for the transfer fee, but also the salary.

“We are evaluating a few situations, it would not be right to give our fans false hope, but we will certainly do what is best to improve the squad.”

United manager Ruben Amorim refused to rule out a move for Garnacho this month, but it may not be to Serie A. The Red Devils are thought to be exploring an ambitious swap deal with Chelsea which could see Christopher Nkunku move to Old Trafford.

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