Aurelio De Laurentiis says he turned down 3.5bn euros for Napoli, and the reason he gives has nothing to do with the number. "I didn't want to retire," he told Radio Kiss Kiss, in comments carried by Sky Sport Italia on Thursday. At 77, having spent 22 years running a club he bought out of bankruptcy, the Napoli president appears to have decided that the job is the point.
The remarks came after Corriere dello Sport reported a fresh meeting in Naples between De Laurentiis and the Italian-American businessman Matt Rizzetta, who holds the majority stake in Napoli Basket. That meeting restarted takeover talk that first surfaced in May. De Laurentiis has now shut it down in the bluntest terms available: "Napoli are not for sale."
The offers that came and went
He described two separate approaches. The first came from Middle Eastern investors and was worth 3.5bn euros. The second arrived through Rizzetta, whom De Laurentiis says he did not know before receiving a meeting request about a year ago. "I replied out of courtesy. He introduced me to a couple of funds he represented that wanted to buy Napoli," he said, placing the contact between February and March of last year.
Lawyers on both sides spoke. No due diligence was ever started. The structure, as De Laurentiis described it, involved part of 2bn euros on signing and the remainder spread across the following three years, with him staying on and gradually stepping back into an honorary presidency. He wanted guarantees that the previous 22 years of work would continue. "Money matters, but it comes last," he said. "I felt a duty to Napoli fans around the world."
There is an obvious tension in the two figures. 3.5bn in cash from one party, 2bn in instalments from another. He rejected both, which suggests price was never really the obstacle.
A preference, stated plainly
De Laurentiis went further on who he would sell to, if it ever came to that. "For now, I haven't decided to sell, but if I did, I would prefer to sell to someone from Naples rather than an American," he said. "We all know who we're dealing with on our own home turf. If someone from Naples wanted to take over from me in two, three, or five years, that would be fine."
He was warm enough about Rizzetta personally, noting that the businessman had hosted him at a basketball game in America and that he was happy to return the favour. The line he drew was about the soap opera, not the man: when Rizzetta raises selling Napoli, De Laurentiis tells him not to start it again.
The stadium is the real project
What he wants to do instead is build. De Laurentiis spoke about a new ground away from the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, and about what he would do with the old site, suggesting the land could become a large park. He also acknowledged the physical demand of seeing such a project through, which is a notable thing for a 77-year-old to say out loud while refusing to sell.
The record behind the stubbornness is hard to argue with. He took over a club in Serie C on 6 September 2004 and has since won the 2005-06 Serie C title, the Coppa Italia in 2012, 2014 and 2020, the Supercoppa Italiana in 2014 and 2025, and the Serie A title in 2022-23 and 2024-25. Whoever eventually takes the club on inherits a standard, not a rebuild.
Club business context: Aurelio De Laurentiis, 77, has been Napoli president since 2004. He spoke to Radio Kiss Kiss, with his remarks carried by Sky Sport Italia on Thursday 22 October 2026, as reported by Goal. No sale process is under way.
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