Mercato Rumours: De Sanctis, Thiago Motta, Ronaldinho, Cassano, Huntelaar

By: Neil | May 14th, 2009

I really don’t like the direction of Donadoni’s Napoli. In fact, the team doesn’t really have a direction right now. Don is trying to bring in more established names to set a solid foundation, but there are problems with this approach. One, established names are a financial risk. We don’t have the financial power to experiment with rejuvenating Ronaldinho’s career. If we want to eventually reach Europe, we need to be getting the most out of our players for the euros spent. Two, many big name players aren’t completely sold on Don’s project. If you look at Napoli’s roster right now, there’s a good young core, but nobody knows whether these core players will leave or not. Pier Paolo Marino claims the players are not for sale, but these days players have the power and if they’re not completely happy they simply won’t give their best.

De Laurentiis and Marino are backed into a corner: the team wants to hold on to players like Lavezzi, Hamsik, and Santacroce, but if the players can’t or won’t play up to their potential, it might be better to sell them and invest in new players who want to play. Of course, once those players go to a new team, they’re inevitably more motivated and will start playing at their best again. It’s a constant battle that many management teams struggle to win.

As usual, the latest names are all ridiculous, and I can’t imagine many of these players playing for Napoli next season. We’ll start with De Sanctis. This guy has been Italy’s #3 keeper for a long time, mostly because Peruzzi was too old and there was really nobody else. He’s a really good keeper, but maybe not quite world class. At Sevilla he couldn’t win the starter’s job from Andres Palop, and he needed to be loaned out to Galatasaray to start for a team that was playing in Europe. He’s finally in danger of losing his place in the Italy squad, and even though Lippi scouts players outside of Italy he probably has a better chance of making the 2010 squad if he’s playing in Serie A. I actually wouldn’t mind Napoli getting De Sanctis. He’ll bring expeirence and credibility to Don’s project even if he’s not the most important piece.

Recent rumours have Napoli making a bid of 10m euros plus Santacroce for Thiago Motta. Motta is obviously a great player, but Napoli are stocked with lots of midfielders. Even if Motta is an upgrade over players like Gargano and Blasi, I don’t think he’s worth 10m euro plus Santacroce. If anything, we need to dump midfielders to get more defenders. I don’t understand this move from a business point of view.

About Ronaldinho? No, no, and no. I don’t know how we can afford him, and even if the club overhauls the wage structure I can’t see Ronaldinho being the answer. He seems to prefer partying over winning, and in today’s fast paced game players can’t be out of shape no matter how skilled they are. I hope this one doesn’t go through.

Cassano will cost around 20m euros. I think any team could use a player with Cassano’s skills, so it then becomes a question of how much is he worth? At his best he is a 20m euro player, but he has a history of losing focus and falling apart. I’d like to have him at Napoli, but not if it means selling our best players to finance it.

Napoli has been tracking Klaas Jan Huntelaar since he was at Ajax. Apparently Huntelaar is not happy at Real Madrid, and might be thinking of leaving. I can’t imagine he’d be interested in Napoli, but it’s nice to know that our d.g. can identify good talent sometimes.

Finally, there are reports that former Napoli boss Edy Reja will take over at Bari if Conte leaves for Juventus. I would really like to see this first because I’m a fan of Reja, and second to see how well he would do. Teams that bounce between Serie B and A seem to be the best fit for Reja, and I’d be very curious to see if he manages Bari the same way he did Napoli.

Next up: Napoli’s first home game since the 1-0 victory over Inter. The opponents are Torino, who are just one point above the relegation zone. If Napoli wins, it would be the team’s 2nd victory in 9 games under Donadoni. Don’s record is currently 1-5-2 for 8 points from 24 available.