Napoli beat Liverpool to Zielinski signing

Napoli have secured the services of Piotr Zielinski from Udinese for a fee believed to be in the region of €15 million.

The 22-year-old underwent a medical on Thursday before signing a five-year deal.

The midfielder had previously been linked with Liverpool and seemed set to continue his career at Anfield, but the Premier League side refused to meet Udinese’s valuation of the player and he has now moved to the Stadio San Paolo instead.

Zielinski joined Udinese from Zaglebie Lubin at the age of 17 and made his debut for the Stadio Friuli side in November 2012. He was unable to secure regular first-team football at Udinese, though, and spent the past two seasons on loan Empoli, where he did enough to earn himself a move to Napoli.

Ufficiale: Piotr Zielinski è un calciatore del Napoli.
Il comunicato: https://t.co/XtrT1t1TKL#ForzaNapoliSempre pic.twitter.com/wunbxU5xnQ

— Official SSC Napoli (@sscnapoli) August 4, 2016

The Poland international joins compatriot Arkadiusz Milik at Napoli, with the prolific striker joining from Ajax in a deal worth €33 million earlier this week.

The Serie A side previously already signed Lorenzo Tonelli and Emanuele Giaccherini.