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Southampton are monitoring Napoli’s £10m-rated midfielder Allan, according to reports in the Sun.
The South Coast side, however, faces competition from West Brom and promoted Newcastle with Rafa Benitez believing the 26-year-old could easily adapt to the Premier League.
Allan’s career took off following his success with Brazil at the 2011 Under-20 World Cup where he played alongside the likes of Philippe Coutinho, Oscar and Casemiro.
He made the switch to Udinese in 2012 where he made 104 league appearances before moving to Napoli.
The Brazilian, who averaged 2.4 tackles per game last season, would add depth to Mauricio Pellegrino’s midfield and provide cover and competition for Oriol Romeu.
Romeu missed three league games last term for Southampton for accumulation of yellow cards.
Predominately a central midfielder, Allan is competent going forward and contributed a goal and six assists in 29 Serie A appearances — 19 of which were starts.
He completed 86.6 per cent of his passes with at least one key pass for Napoli.
Should Southampton make a move for the midfielder it would certainly add a different option for Pellegrino and fit the mould of a prototypical club signing.