Napoli boss won’t sign Africans unless they skip African Cup

NAPLES, Italy (AP) — Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis says his club will not sign African players anymore unless they agree not to play in the African Cup of Nations. The tournament takes place every two years and normally runs for a month from early January. That is midway through the season of Europe’s top leagues. Kalidou Koulibaly, a defender who moved from Napoli to Chelsea this summer, captained Senegal to its first African Cup title at the start of this year. Koulibaly says “You cannot speak about the African national teams like this. You have to have respect like you have respect for the European national teams.”