Roberto Donadoni is adamant that Antonio Cassano will never sign for his club Napoli.

There has been rumours that the Sampdoria forward will make the move to the South of Naples to join Donadoni's Napoli revolution but the former Azzurri boss has refuted such claims.

He told Corriere dello Sport, "It is in haste that these names are thrown around, but the expectations are in vain. We will remain grounded.

"Everyone would like to get players like [Lionel] Messi, [Andres] Iniesta, or [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic, but we must be practical and see what chances are available to us.

"Undoubtedly, Napoli must move forward. I'm optimistic, because I speak about and compare situations with the club every day."

Cassano may be tempted to sign on for Napoli so as to repay the faith shown by Donadoni when the latter included the problematic striker in his Euro 2008 squad.