Napoli Tipped to Make January Approach for Resurgent Man City Flop Jo

Ex-Manchester City and Everton forward Jo could soon be on his way back to Europe following rumoured interest in the 30-year-old from Serie A leaders Napoli.

Having seen his time at City ultimately deemed a failure after a £19m move in the summer of 2008, the Brazilian returned home in 2011 to join Internacional and later Atletico Mineiro.

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He subsequently made the move to Al Shabab in Dubai in 2015 and then accepted an offer from Jiangsu Suning in the Chinese Super League the following year.

But since returning to Brazil a second time, Jo has been in fine form for Corinthians, the team with which he started his career as a seven year-old academy player, and led the Brasileirao scoring charts with 18 goals as the club claimed the national title.

His form apparently hasn't gone unnoticed as Brazilian journalist Sergio Xavier has told SporTV in Brazil that Napoli could soon make an offer for the striker.

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"An offer is coming for Jo, possibly from Napoli," he said. "At 30, the chance to play in a [top] European league is difficult to refuse. We are not talking about China or Turkey."

Given that Jo has already played in the middle east and China in recent years and has a good contract at Corinthians, it is unlikely that he would be swayed to leave by anything other than an offer from an elite European club, like Napoli, with a second chance to prove himself in Europe.

Jo has only played sparingly for the Brazil national team over the years, but he was part of the 2014 World Cup squad and has previously expressed a desire to play his way back into the team in time for the 2018 World Cup next summer.

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"I feel like coming back and it will depend on my work at Corinthians," he told SporTV this time last year. "God willing, I'm going back to the Selecao."