Napoli Midweek Update

By: Neil | January 21st, 2009

According to Mirko Savini it was a fallout with Marino, not Reja, that led to him being frozen out since the start of the season. The 29 year old defender was sold to Palermo yesterday in Napoli’s first transaction in the mercato. I have not been able to find any financial details, which means it was probably an insignificant amount of money. Napoli’s goal was to get Savini off the roster, and that has been accomplished.

I had assumed it was a disagreement with Reja that led to Savini being frozen out, but the ex-Fiorentina player says there was a difference of opinion with the director of sport.

Last season Savini featured mainly as a left wing-back for Napoli, but with the arrival of Mannini last January and Maggio in the summer there was little chance of him playing in those spots again this year. I found it intersting that he considers himself fundamentally a central defender. I assumed that since he was playing at left wing-back he was naturally a left full-back, but apparently he was playing out of position most or all of his time at Napoli. I was never big on Savini because he had limited offensive skills, but he was competent on defence and played hard to earn a jersey. It will be interesting to see how he performs in a setup that is more suited to his skills.

The rumour mill has Napoli poised to acquire Brescia’s attacking midfielder Savio Nsereko. There is lots of competition for the player, and West Ham United’s Italian director Gianluca Nani has also been closely following the German youth player. Nsereko has been playing as a striker for Brescia, and could play either alongside Lavezzi or as one of the five midfielders.

There are also reports that Hamsik is unsettled at Napoli and will be looking for an exit unless the team qualifies for the Champions League. In addition to Inter and Man City being interested, Juve has also shown interest with Vincenzo Iaquinta being offered with a pile of cash. Incidently, I’ve read in the past that Marino is not interested in Iaquinta, so that deal looks improbable. In any case, the red card for protesting was very unlike Hamsik. His performances the last couple of months, like the rest of the team, have not been his best. I’d love to know what he said that earned him a straight red card. His two game suspension will give Mariano Bogliacino a chance to show his qualities after an ankle injury threatened to spoil his season.

Also on the absentee front, Iezzo will not return for the Roma game. With Navarro also injured, Gianello will be entrusted with keeping Napoli’s unbeaten streak at the San Paolo alive. On his day Gianello has a lot of quality, but I don’t trust him as much as Napoli’s other two goalies. In other news, Lavezzi was fined 1500 euros for his dive against Chievo last week. It’s maybe the only time over the last year and a half I’ve seen Lavezzi go down without any contact. Hopefully he learns from his mistake.

Apparently Napoli is no longer interested in Polish defender Jodlowiec. Multiple sources reported the deal as being done, so there’s either some inaccurate info in the media or I don’t know enough Italian to understand the current story. This whole thing doesn’t make sense, as Savini’s departure just opened up a free roster spot on defence.

And it appears the Roma game on Sunday won’t be televised. I couldn’t find it at RAI, Fox Soccer Channel, or GOL TV. It looks like I’ll have to do with another internet feed.

The next couple of weeks figure to be quite busy. Not only is the mercato closing in ten days, but Napoli have two midweek games coming up: a Serie A game against Fiorentina next week, and a Coppa Italia quarter final against Juventus the following week. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep the posts coming as fast as the events unfold.