Napoli confident about Elmas’ return

Originally posted on Football Italia | Last updated Aug 21, 2025 9:58 AM ET

Eljif Elmas is close to returning to Napoli as the Partenopei are convinced they’ve made the necessary steps to reach an agreement with RB Leipzig and re-sign the North Macedonia international.

RB Leipzig winger Elmas is close to returning to his former club Napoli, sources with direct knowledge of the matter tell me.

Elmas close to Napoli return

Football Italia exclusively reported the story on August 11 and provided a further update last night as soon as Napoli sent an offer to sign the 25-year-old on loan with an option to buy for €13/15m.

Napoli have made further steps forward in recent hours, which will likely be decisive.

RB Leipzig have realised that it would be useless to play hardball, affecting all the parties involved.

Elmas’ Napoli career

In a summer transfer window where Napoli have negotiated for a long time for some new signings and expenditures, the defending Serie A champions are now confident of receiving the green light to welcome Elmas again.

The North Macedonia international spent the second part of the 2024-25 campaign on loan at Torino, but he had already won the Serie A title at Napoli in 2022-23 and played 189 games with the Partenopei, from 2019 to 2024, scoring 19 goals.

This article first appeared on Football Italia and was syndicated with permission.

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