Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has hit out at Manchester United for being able to shell out just £80m on Harry Maguire due to the club grossing more than most clubs.
Maguire became the most expensive defender of all time after United sealed his signature earlier this week, eclipsing the £75m spent by Liverpool on Virgil van Dijk in January 2018.
The defender, who is expected to go straight into the starting XI against Chelsea, penned a six-year contract at Old Trafford with the option to extend for another year.
The Napoli president, speaking to ESPN, fumed at how his club would be forced to value Kalidou Koulibaly, their star defender, at £250m because the club receives a substantially lower gross income than United.
"[Koulibaly] has a clause of £150m. But, for example, in England, they paid £85m for a player. In Napoli, I would pay £30-£35m," he said.
"With that in mind, I think Koulibaly's value is £250m if they paid that much for that guy. The problem of the super cost of the players is due to England. In England, they gross more money than in France, Spain, Italy and Germany.
"If a club grosses £800m, they have no problem to offer around £80m, £90m, £100m for one player. There is not a real good and fair competition between England and the other countries."
United also added right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka to their defence over the summer, signing the 21-year-old from Crystal Palace for £50m.
However, the club failed to land a replacement for Romelu Lukaku, who joined Inter Milan on deadline day, and did not make any additions to the midfield area.
Leo Nieboer
