The Napoli president has no desire to sell the 23-year-old, despite the Gunners’ overtures, and also poured cold water on a potential bid for Tottenham winger Erik Lamela

Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis says Arsenal’s interest in Lorenzo Insigne makes him “laugh”.

The 23-year-old ended the season on a high with two goals in the Coppa Italia final victory over Fiorentina, which sparked rumours he had caught the eye of the north London club. 

Insigne’s agent appeared to open the door to a potential move to the Emirates on Saturday, telling
Tuttomercatoweb: “We are honoured that a club like Arsenal could have Lorenzo on their wish list.”

Reports have suggested Arsenal could table a €25m bid for the 23-year-old, but De Laurentiis claims he has no intention of allowing the player to leave.

“Arsenal offers 20 million for Insigne? This makes me laugh. I want to make Insigne rise to a value of 60-70 million,” he told Repubblica.

In a wide-ranging interview, De Laurentiis also poured cold water on a potential deal for Tottenham’s Erik Lamela, but says that the winger’s team-mate Sandro is “one of our targets”.

Speaking about Lamela, he said: “Rumours about our interest in him are only agent’s games. I wanted him a year ago but they didn’t allow the deal. Roma offered us (Pablo) Osvaldo instead.

“Now, with (Rafael) Benitez, we don’t need Lamela any more.

“Sandro? He’s one of our targets, but not the only one.”

De Laurentiis also admits the club were interested in signing Javier Mascherano – who renewed his contract with Barcelona earlier this week – but says they only wanted him on loan.