Historical Context and Mercato Rumours

By: Neil | November 5th, 2009

Napoli’s 3-2 victory in Torino last Saturday was the club’s first victory away to Juventus in 21 years. This alone is reason for celebration, but if you look the entire week it might be the best week of Napoli calcio since the team qualified for the UEFA Cup in 1991-92. Can anyone remember a time during the last 17 years when Napoli did better than beating Fiorentina and Juventus away and drawing Milan at home? If the team continues to pick up results, there will be inevitable comparisons with Maradona era of the late 80’s and early 90’s.

I don’t want to get into comparisons, first because I wasn’t a calcio fan back in the late 80’s, and second because for every similarity one can find between the two teams there are bound to be two or more crucial differences.

Instead I would like to focus on the current team. My initial feeling about last week was “too good to be true” but when I look at how the team has been shaped over the last few seasons it’s right about where the team should be. The two wins against Fiorentina and Juve were clean and well earned victories, and even if the comeback against Milan was a little miraculous it was still a legitimate result.

For those who remember last year, Napoli got off to a great start and had home wins against Fiorentina and Juventus, and an away win against Lazio. I don’t know if these results were on three consecutive matchdays, but they all took place in a time span of about a month. So there is a precendent for the amazing results of last week.

And since returning to Serie A, Napoli has created a habit of playing some big games against the top teams. Two seasons ago there was the famous 3-1 in against Milan that knocked them out of the Champions League, and in the last two seasons Napoli has beaten Scudetto winners Inter twice at home. Then there’s last year’s Coppa Italia game where Juve need penalities at the Stadio Olimpico to eliminate Napoli. To summarize, playing big teams hasn’t been one of Napoli’s shortcomings over the last few seasons.

What does Napoli need to make the next step into a perennial European team? The answer is playing against the mid and lower table teams. In Reja’s one complete season in Serie A the club managed some good results against these sides and snuck into Europe via the Intertoto. But it was clear that Reja had reached the limits of his managing abilities and couldn’t sustain this kind of success. The big question is, can Napoli find a winning formula for teams that will stick ten men behind the ball? Can Mazzarri keep rotating players so that later on in the seasons intagibles like fatigue and motivation won’t be a problem? These questions will be answered over the next six months, but if you’re bold enough to make a prediction the comments section is all yours.

I really think that Napoli has the talent to be a perennial European team except in a few areas such as defence and maybe attacking depth. After watching players like Datolo and Hamsik show their immense talents over the last week, some fans and experts are raising the issue of former d.s. Pierpaolo Marino who brought all these talented players to Napoli. Wasn’t it Marino who built up this great side?

My answer to that is yes and no. Yes, Marino did a great job of identifying talent. I don’t think anyone is disputing that. But at the same time, he had an awful lot of resources to work with (DeLa’s money) and even though he landed a number of talented players he did a poor job of managing the overall balance and development of the team. Also, for every smart purchase he had a bad one. For ever Lavezzi there is a Denis, and for every Datolo there is a Navarro. Sure, Denis has scored some big goals but Marino got ripped off paying about $8 million for him. Navarro, who cost around $4 million, showed brief glimpses of talent but never really fit into the team. In the end Napoli had to go out and get De Sanctis.

Marino therefore desereves a lot of credit for bringing these talented players to Napoli. But it should be noted that he had big resources, and with the sheer number of players he bought some were bound to work out. Plus, there’s more to a director of sport than spotting talent before others, and I think the other parts of the job are what got Marino fired.

Napoli’s next move – bringing Liverpool’s Andrea Dossena to Napoli in the January market – is the kind of thing Marino should have been doing. Dossena is an established player in his prime years who fills an urgent need on Napoli’s team (left defence.) He wants to come to Napoli, and all that really needs to be done is haggle over the price. This will be a good test for Bigon to see his negotiating skills. Hopefully he won’t get a reputation as someone who will pay more than market value as Marino frequently did.

Napoli has also been linked with a couple of young Ghanaians who could end up in Milan. Domenic Adiyiah recently won the Golden Boot at the U-20 World Cup, leading Ghana to victory. 16 year old Edmund Hottor is currently in the primavera squad of Triestina and had 50% of his rights purchased by AC Milan. While Adiyiah couldn’t reach an agreement with AC Milan, he will be at a top club one day. It’s great to see Napoli being mentioned as a destination for the world’s best young footballers. Even if the world’s best young players end up at clubs like Milan, Juve, or Man United, Napoli is closing the gap as a great club for young talent to shine.

Closer to home there are rumours of a swap with Lazio for Pandev and Ledesma. Napoli could really use a striker like Pandev. He’s not the most athletic player is the world, but he’s great technically in front of goal. Ledesma would likely provide depth at the centre midfield position. He could challenge Gargano or replace him if the Uruguayan leaves. Napoli shouldn’t give up a lot for these players though. Defintely NO to Santacroce and Cigarini. Bogliacino, Rinaudo, and Zuniga are more expendable. Even if this deal doesn’t go through, Bogliacino and Hoffer could be transfer listed in the January market. Both players are not getting much playing time and probably have better futures elsewhere.

Apologies for not including any pictures or video this post. I believe Chris will be back to cover the Catania game as I have another commitment on Saturday. You can look forward to some creative pictures and graphics then. Until that time, keep on savouring last week’s impressive victories. There could be more of them to follow.