Ti amo, Marino!

By: Joe | July 18th, 2008

Seemingly from out of nowhere, Napoli Direttore Generale Pier Paolo Marino signed Andrea Russotto, another young starlet, to add to Napoli’s collection of young jewels. It’s difficult to argue with the results Marino gets when he goes into the market to acquire players. Anyone who can pick up Fabiano Santacroce, Daniele Mannini, Nicolas Navarro in the winter transfer window while giving up… De Zerbi on loan?, is all good in my book. My criticism of Marino is more with how some of these transactions, particularly the ones that fall through, are handled.

Let’s look at last year as an example. You can’t argue with the results here. Marino knew the midfield needed some added quality and he signed Serie A veteran (1/2 ownership) Maneule Blasi to anchor the midfield. He then added brilliance and class with Slovakian international Marek Hamsik, at the time only 19-years old was signed and he’s been a revelation. It is not a stretch to say that in four years Hamsik could be one of the best MF in the world. It’s no accident the kid has drawn interest from all the big European clubs. Marino then added the little Mighty Mouse dynamo, Walter Gargano, from Uruguay and he quickly won over the San Paolo faithful with his tireless running. In attack Marino added Argentine phenom Ezequiel Lavezzi and Marcelo Zalayeta. All Lavezzi did was catapult himself into Napoli’s most important player last year and Zalayeta was serviceable (I’m trying to be generous). Matteo Contini was signed from Parma to add depth to the defense and he was often the best defender on the pitch, at least until Fabiano Santacroce was picked up. However, there were a few issues in how last year’s calciomercato campaign played out.

Namely:

Marino claimed to have a verbal agreement with then-owned Arsenal youngster, Arturo Lupoli, only to see Lupoli get quickly signed by Fiorentina right under our noses. Lupoli didn’t find any time with the Viola and is still on loan to Serie B side Treviso. Lupoli was outshined at Treviso by another youngster whose in the ascendancy and now wears a Napoli shirt (Russotto).

Walter Gargano was all but signed and delivered from Uruguayan side FC Danubio before roughly two weeks of hand-wringing. The problem was with Gargano’s salary (he has since signed an extension) and he was very close to jumping ship to Marino’s old club, Udinese.

Antonio Nocerino was all set to sign last summer. He talked about what a dream it was to play at the San Paolo. blah-blah-blah. Nocerino actually scored his first professional goal when playing on loan at Piacenza against Napoli. He refused to celebrate against his hometown team and gained a lot of fan support as a result. It turns out all it took for him to turn his back on the deal was the promise of playing time with Juventus. A Napoletano choosing Juventus over Napoli? Christ. Nocerino played pretty recklessly last year at Juventus picking up unnecessary yellow cards and giving up the ball far too often. He became surplus baggage and was shipped off to Sicily where he’ll be playing for the rosanero.

He signed Samuele Dalla Bona, Cristian Bucchi and Roberto De Zerbi two years ago. All three players have found little playing time for the Azzurri and are difficult to sell due to their high salaries. Bucchi has proven successful only in Serie B (loaned to Bologna last year and Ascoli this year). De Zerbi found some success two years ago when we were in Serie B but he lost his regular spot and was loaned out to Brescia in January after finding no room in Reja’s lineup. With the Russotto signing, De Zerbi once again finds himself on the outside looking in. Dalla Bona? Christ, I’m tired of thinking of the talent this guy has and how it’s just been wasted on the bench. Reja never gets him into the lineup and he gets passed over in the midfield over Michele Pazienza and the collective ball of suck that is Francesco Montervino and Marco Capparella. Dalla Bona is now looking at his second straight year of getting in the odd Coppa Italia match and watching from the stands. Yay?!?

There were a few more incidents and near-misses last year and I understand that’s part of the nature of calciomercato season. It’s why they call it the silly season. All that aside, the general feeling was that Marino wound up getting good results (who can argue with Marek Hamsik, Ezequiel Lavezzi, Emmanuele Blasi and Gargano) but he got beaten to the punch on a few occasions and made to look silly.

Turn the page to this year and we see a stark difference in the information that is published by the Italian press regarding Napoli’s transfer activities.

German Denis (6.3 million euros):
Marino favors South American players because they generally come cheaper and, more importantly, because Napoli represents a destination, not a stepping stone. European, and particularly Italian, players consider clubs like Napoli, Atalanta, Palermo, Fiorentina and Lazio as foundations to build on a career so you can go play for Inter, Milan, Juventus and (to a lesser extent) Roma. Denis is everything Emmanuele Calaio was supposed to be. He’s young (26), tall (1.87 meters), strong, good in the air and adept at holding the ball up for oncoming midfielders. Marino picked up Denis just as he’s beginning to hit his stride. Denis scored 15 goals in the first 13 matches for his Argentine club Independiente and merited his first call up by Alfio Basile to the Argentine national club. The international caps were for 2010 World Cup qualifying matches so the call up was not experimental in nature. Denis scored 37 goals in 69 matches for Independiente. The man has skill.

Christian Maggio (8 million euros):
Maggio has been a regular starter for the likes of Vicenza (coached by Reja), Fiorentina and Sampdoria since he was 18 years old. There was even talk of Donadoni choosing him as a RB for the Nazionale. I don’t know how much of that is accurate but the kid has overcome serious knee injuries and keeps improving. He’s flourished as a right winger at Sampdoria and is the position he’ll occupy with Napoli. He scored nine goals last year for Fiorentina. The man who’s spot in the starting XI he replaces, Gianluca Grava, has scored 11 goals going into his 17th professional year. 11!. More than half his goals were scored in Serie D. Holy upgrades, Batman!

Leandro Rinaudo (5.5 million euros):
The Palermo youth product became a regular at the age of 20 for Serie B side Salernitana. Rinaudo, now 25, has played the last three years in Serie A amassing 59 total appearances during that stretch between Palermo and Siena. Rinaudo will add depth as he can play anywhere across the 3-man backline. I suspect he’ll provide cover in case of suspensions to either Santacroce, Paolo Cannavaro or Contini.

Andrea Russotto (3.8 million euros – loan with an option to buy)
The jewel of this summer’s transfer season may be Azzurrini playmaker Andrea Russotto. Marino has been after Russotto for a long while now and he finally got his man in a deal that was not discussed openly or rumored to occur before the deal was announced. The former Lazio youth product was voted one of the top 50 young players last year by English magazine World Soccer. Russotto has played regularly for the Nazionale youth squads working his way up from the U-15’s to now featuring for Pierluigi Casiraghi in the Beijing Summer Olympics. Gianfranco Zola says he has talent to burn and doesn’t even know himself how good he can be. The kid has speed and the vision and technical ability to be a true trequartista in the classic mode.

The thing that impresses me the most, and was the reason for this post in the first place, is the manner in which these transactions occurred. There was no drama. There was no back-and-forth dialogue of agents denying the deal and Marino saying “X” and the player saying “Y.” These players were just signed. Punto e basta!

FORZA NAPOLI!