Aurelio De Laurentiis rubbishes Mario Balotelli talk

Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has played down suggestions that his club will look to sign Mario Balotelli in this summer's transfer window.

Balotelli is believed to be desperate to leave Nice ahead of the 2018-19 campaign, and Marseille have been strongly linked with the Italian's services in recent weeks.

Napoli were also thought to be in the mix for the former AC Milan and Inter Milan forward, but De Laurentiis has rubbished reports that the 27-year-old could make the move to Naples.

"[Dries] Mertens will not leave, [Angel] Di Maria will not come and as for Balotelli I've been saying no for years. It's very false that he will come to Napoli," De Laurentiis told Radio Kiss Kiss.

Balotelli has scored 43 times in 66 appearances for Nice over the last two seasons.