Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis Confirms Interest in Genoa Forward Piatek

Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis confirmed that he has spoken to Genoa amid interest in signing their inform Polish Striker Krzysztof Piatek, but insisted he won't be drawn into a bidding war.

Piatek has been in scintillating form this season since moving to Genoa from Cracovia over the summer, scoring 13 goals in eight games, while drawing attention from a litany of European giants. 

De Laurentiis' Napoli are one of those clubs, and the president confirmed he had talked with Genoa President Enrico Preziosi and Piatek’s agent, but insisted he won't get drawn into an 'auction'.

“I’ve talked to [Genoa President Enrico] Preziosi and his agent,” De Laurentiis confirmed at an event for Club Napoli Solopaca, (as quoted by Football Italia).

“We still need to meet but I’ll leave our Coach [Carlo Ancelotti], who has a three-year contract we'd like to make six, to be calm, I don’t need to run and I don’t want to get involved in an auction."

De Laurentiis also moved to play down the fervour surrounding Piatek after his lightning start to the season.

He added: “Without taking anything away from Piątek we’ll need to see if he can do as well in our setup as he does at Genoa."

23-year-old Piatek signed from Polish side Cracovia for just ​€4m in the summer. The forward had previously scored 47 goals in 141 games in the Polish top flight, but has announced himself this season as a early contender for the European Golden Boot.

As such he has been linked with Barcelona, Juventus and Bayern Munich among many others with a reported €60m price tag. His international goalscoring form has not disappointed either, with Piatek netting in Poland's 3-2 loss to Portugal over the international break.

However, Genoa general manager Giorgio Perinetti said recently: "We should absolutely exclude possibility of Piatek being sold in January.

"He can improve even more so it's hard to imagine the parameters and set his valuation now."