New Tottenham signing Radu Dragusin rejected another club along with Bayern Munich to seal his January move to Spurs.
Napoli chairman Aurelio De Laurentiis has confirmed he failed in a late approach for the centre-back as Bayern also launched an unsuccessful attempt to hijack Spurs' bid.
Genoa, who at the time owned Dragusin, have previously claimed Bayern bettered the financial package on offer at Spurs but now De Laurentiis says Napoli submitted a more lucrative deal.
"I had offered him more than anyone: no one had given him the figures that we would have guaranteed him,” he is quoted as saying by Area Napoli.
“Genoa replied to me: ‘Bayern Munich are also there, but the boy really wants England’. It wasn’t a question of money, because it doesn’t always go like this when you try to sign a footballer.
"If they tell you that the talent you want to hire is seen elsewhere, aspires to certain leagues, you can’t help but stop. We did our bit, but his choice was different.”
Both Napoli and Bayern had to admit defeat as Spurs wrapped up a £26.7million deal for Dragusin.
