Napoli president Aurelio de Laurentiis admits the sale of Kalidou Koulibaly to Manchester City is being held up by a bitterness between the two clubs.
ADL concedes the previous sale of Jorginho to Chelsea two years ago, when he appeared set to join City, is the sticking point.
He said, "How can we have a normal and calm negotiation with Manchester City to sell Koulibaly?
"They won't talk directly with us because of the Jorginho deal two years ago.
"I have answered on this via SMS, because an important English newspaper wrote to me asking: 'What is happening with Koulibaly and Manchester City?'.
"I answered that Manchester City is saying it can't talk directly with us because of the problem with Jorginho.
"How can we then proceed with a serious and serene negotiation for the transfer of a player? Is the reasoning clear?"
De Laurentiis added: “Koulibaly and [Arkadiusz] Milik are both on their way out, transfer market permitting.
"So, if the transfer market allows us to sell these two excellent players, we will know how to replace them. If not, then we'll discuss it again next year.
"Kalidou is a great person, I would be terribly sad to lose him. But there is a time for everything, even to move apart."
