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We've been hearing the same song for weeks now: Napoli really, really, really want to add Nikola Maksimovic to their defense, but Torino don't want to sell him. They set a high asking price for him, Napoli meet it, then Torino says "wait no nevermind" and raises it. Then Napoli meets it again and wash, rinse, repeat.
Torino raised the bar to mind-staggeringly stupid heights on Monday, with club chairman Urbano Cairo apparently asking for twenty-five million euros -- spelled out in its entirety because holy s#!% that's a lot of money for Maksimovic -- in order to part with the Serbian player. That was a steep rise from previously reported fees being negotiated for Maksimovic, and was met with all proper shock and hilarity from the Twitter sphere.
Napoli were apparently not deterred by that demand, however. Sky Italia reports that they've lodged a new bid of €18 million including bonuses -- the base fee for which has not been reported. Depending on the structure of the base fee and the potential bonuses, that could be a very good deal for Napoli -- but it's one that Torino would still have to accept, which recent history suggests they wouldn't.
There's an interesting wrinkle in that Sky report, though: apparently Maksimovic's agent is going to be meeting with Cairo in order to try to talk him into accepting that bid. That has to make Cristiano Giuntoli and company feel good about their odds of actually landing Maksimovic, finally bringing some optimism into a deal that's long been frustrating.
Maksimovic would be a fantastic purchase in terms of his skills and what he'd bring to the team. At the full price of €18 million being mooted it would probably be an overpay, but again, that depends on what the actual base fee is and what triggers the bonuses.
This rumor maybe, maybe, represents promise and hope and progress in a potential Maksimovic transfer. That's something we've been waiting on for a long time -- now we have to wait and see what actually comes of it, if anything. Don't hold your breath.