Darwin Nunez has informed Napoli he is ready to depart Liverpool this summer. However, the Italian outfit are willing to bide their time in hope of reducing Liverpool's hefty £70million asking price.
The 26-year-old Benfica recruit feels his future at Anfield is over under Arne Slot, having only started eight Premier League matches during the manager's title-winning debut season.
Nunez has given Napoli the go-ahead to negotiate with Liverpool, but the Serie A champions believe a deal closer to £50m would be more of a fair price, according to The Mirror.
As the summer transfer market unfolds, Napoli are content to wait and see, particularly as Slot is keen to bolster his squad with a prolific striker.
Liverpool boss Slot has his eye on Newcastle's Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike from Eintracht Frankfurt, although both players come with substantial price tags.
Having already splashed out £186m this summer on Florian Wirtz, Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong, Liverpool will be looking to recoup as much as possible from any outgoing transfers.
Napoli, meanwhile, are banking on Victor Osimhen accepting a £67million move to Saudi Pro League outfit Al-Hilal, which would significantly boost their transfer funds.
This would enable the Italian club to get closer to Liverpool's valuation for Nunez, who managed a modest tally of seven goals throughout the season.
Nunez wasn't used from the off by the Reds for the final two months of the campaign, with the club needing to make an extra payment to Benfica if he started one more league fixture after the 3-1 triumph over Southampton on March 8.
Liverpool spent an initial £64m when Nunez arrived from Benfica in the summer of 2022, with add-ons - including that aforementioned clause - potentially seeing the fee rise to £85m.
The £85m fee would have made him Liverpool's most expensive player ever, but Wirtz has now taken that labe; following his move from Bayer Leverkusen for an initial £100m which could go as high as £116m - a British record transfer.