Torino May Try To Keep Napoli Loanee

With the sale of Ciro Immobile to Borussia Dortmund all but finalized, Torino is turning their eyes toward how to best use their share of the €19.5 million being split with Juventus. While many are using the opportunity to link them with some interesting strikers, Gazzetta dello Sport is mooting a more subtle approach for them to use some of that nice new cash.

The Italian sports news source has indicated that Torino have a purchase clause in their loan agreement with Napoli for Omar El Kaddouri, and that they're now strongly considering triggering it to keep the Moroccan international. With Europa League football suddenly beckoning thanks to Parma's unpaid tax bill, the move makes sense to help the club's depth and quality in the face of the loss of Immobile.

El Kaddouri had a successful season with Torino, making 25 starts among 30 all-competitions appearances, scoring five times and assisting on seven more goals. He mostly served as a central midfielder, alternating between a box-to-box role and as a more outright attacker. While it might be nice to keep El Kaddouri in Naples for depth purposes, he'll be 24 by the the close of the transfer window and is reaching a make-or-break point in his career where he'd likely rather be a more featured player, which would not be the case with Napoli.

For his sake, and for the sake of getting a return of their investment, it might be best to let El Kaddouri stay with Torino. La Gazzetta didn't specify the value of the purchase clause, but it's hard to imagine it being any more than €5 million given that Napoli spent less than €4 million to buy him from Brescia just under two years ago, then proceeded to barely use him in the year between then and loaning him to Turin.

Given that El Kaddouri is frequently forgotten when people think of Napoli players for next season, it's unlikely he'll be missed much if he does return to Torino on a permanent deal. Even still, best of luck to him in his future, no matter what happens.