CAN NAPOLI FINALLY ATTAIN REDEMPTION?

… As their success plan appears to be paying off. For now.

The most successful club in southern Italy with a rich history of good and successful coaches can only boast of two Serie A titles in their cabinet since their inception in 1926 with their best years coming during the days of Diego Armando Maradona. However, after the exit of Maradona in 1992 due to the cocaine scandal, other star players like Gianfranco Zola and Careca left the club. Subsequently, they experienced a downturn in their fortune and suffered enforced relegation to Serie C as a result of bankruptcy.

Fortunately, they were re-founded by film producer Aurelio De Laurentiis who made sure that they saw promotion back into the top flight and gave a statement finish that season. Navigating through hardships, they eventually became one of the top teams in Italy having a large fanbase. Though they have enjoyed some on-field successes winning the Coppa Italia titles in 2012,2014 and the most recent one in 2020, they have found it quite difficult to clinch their third Serie A title. Can this be their season?

VISIONARY

Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has shown himself to be quite the visionary. Restoring the club’s name to S.S.C. Napoli in 2006 and overseeing their promotion back to the Serie A in 2007. Their first time in Serie A as a reformed club. De Laurentiis quickly kicked off his long-term project by signing Ezequiel Lavezzi from San Lorenzo and Marek Hamsik from Brescia both for fees worth around €5.50m among other signings. After sacking Edoardo Reja and former Italy national team coach Roberto Donadoni in the space of seven months In 2009, he appointed former Sampdoria boss Walter Mazzarri who guided them to a sixth-place finish in the league which guaranteed them a 2010-2011 Europa League spot. De Laurentiis again made a statement of intent by signing Edison Cavani on a five-year deal for a fee worth €18m. Speaking after completing his transfer, he said;

“Cavani Is a Napoli player, Other clubs wanted him but we have got him.

“We have been after Cavani for over a month. I was always in talks with Zamparini and I can say that it wasn’t an easy deal because behind Cavani there were other prestigious clubs who wanted to sign him.

“But we closed it first, having moved early. Negotiations with Zamparini started before the World Cup, I have read many incorrect things. There were never problems surrounding his wages and image rights. We have already had for a while an understanding with both Palermo and his agent.

“I and (sporting director RiccardoBigon) worked side by side, we were calm and we were never worried by all the talk.

“We followed our path and today we are delighted to be able to give another important player to our fans.”

In the 2011-2012 season, Cavani helped Napoli to a second-place finish. Sending them directly into the Champions League group stages. They had a good competition but suffered defeat in the Round of 16 at the hands of Chelsea. That season, they finished sixth but won their fourth Coppa Italia title with Cavani also on the scoresheet.

MOVING HIGHER.

After the sale of Edison Cavani to Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain for a fee worth around €64.5m In the 2013 close season, De Laurentiis spent the money wisely Landing three players among whom was Gonzalo Higuaín who joined the club from Real Madrid in a deal worth €39m. José Callejón, Pepe Reina, Raúl Albiol, and Dries Mertens also joined the club. The icing on the cake was the appointment of an established manager in Rafa Benitez to occupy the vacant seat left by Mazzarri who departed for Inter Milan.

It paid off as Napoli went on to lift the 2014 Coppa Italia trophy, winning their fifth title in the tournament by beating Fiorentina 3-1 and also finished third in the League ensuring their qualification for the Champions League.

Napoli did not stop growing by signing players and appointing top managers with the likes of Maurizio Sarri replacing Rafa Benitez who left for Real Madrid in 2015. Sarri had a huge impact on the club guiding them to two second-place finishes in three years. He also formed one of Europe’s best midfield partnerships at the time with Jorginho as the anchor of a midfield three. Marek Hamsik to the left and Allan, a €10.3m signing from Udinese to his right. These three formed a partnership that rivaled Juventus for the League title in the 2017/2018 Season finishing with 91 points; an all-time points record for the Serie A runner-up, only four points behind winners Juventus.

Sarri also had a huge impact on Gonzalo Higuain who scored a Serie A record of 36 goals after convincing the Argentine to remain at the club in the summer of 2015. Higuain had this to say about Sarri’s influence on his success. “You don’t have to be too intelligent to understand he had a decisive role in my improvement, Sarri proved himself to be humble with everyone. He also says what he thinks and for me, honesty is the most important thing. You might not like what he says, but he’ll only say it to make you do better.” Napoli played arguably their best brand of football under Maurizio Sarri.

Sarri’s controversial exit saw Carlo Ancelotti, another world-class manager take charge of the club.

SEARCHING FOR SUCCESS.

It was evident that De Laurentiis brought in Carlo Ancelotti for his pedigree in Italian football and his aim was clear; to compete for the League title. De Laurentiis spoke on Carlo Ancelotti’s appointment saying;

“I would like Ancelotti to stay here for many years. He is a winner and stability is good for our project”. That statement made it clear he wanted to become a consistent competitor for Scudetto. Ancelotti had a bright start to life at Napoli finishing second 11 points behind Juventus in his first season. Strengthening his squad for his second season in charge, he brought in Kostas Manolas from AS Roma for a fee of €36million, Eljif Elmas from Fenerbahce, Hirving Lozano from PSV Eindhoven, Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Alex Meret, and David Ospina from Arsenal among others. Ancelotti spoke about the club’s intent after their summer spree saying; “we’re here to win, not to go and braid our dolls’ hair. We can win the title.” Ancelotti was unable to secure the signing of James Rodriguez from Real Madrid due to De Laurentiis stance on his price tag being outrageous. A decision that might have caused a strain in their relationship.

It seemed to be the perfect transfer window for Napoli. Strengthening their squad in every department to compete for the scudetto with Juventus who also brought in Matthijs de Ligt, Adrien Rabiot, Dejan Kulusevski, and a host of other players. Surprisingly, Napoli found themselves in muddy waters. Sitting in seventh place in the league and De Laurentiis seeing that a top-four finish at the least was unlikely, used Ancelotti’s word against him sacking him on 10th December 2019, less than 18 months after his appointment despite coming off a 4-0 win against Genk to end a Nine-match winless run. The decision attracted great criticism from the football world with a lot claiming it was a mistake to sack him despite his qualification to the round of 16 of the Uefa Champions League. De Laurentiis’s ambition always has been to win the Scudetto. Sitting in seventh place Eight points off the Champions League spot and 17 points of the top wasn’t going to cut it so to others it might be a mistake but to De Laurentiis, it was what was good for the club. It was also rumored that Ancelotti had lost control of the dressing room. A “problem” De Laurentiis tried to fix by asking the players to camp in the training ground for five days, a method known as ” Ritiro” in Italy. Ancelotti also publicly disagreed with the method saying he doesn’t think such methods were effective. Ancelotti was also said to be angered by De Laurentiis’s decision to not sign James Rodriguez from Real Madrid. It is evident in football, that when such things happen between a manager and his employer, the inevitable tends to occur. Carlo Ancelotti’s case wasn’t far-fetched.

FOLLOWING THE TREND… A LEAP OF FAITH?

After the search for success in Carlo Ancelotti ended in a dramatic failure, De Laurentiis decided to take a leap of faith in following the trend of clubs appointing young, upcoming, and probably “inexperienced” coaches. The appointment of Gennaro Gattuso a day after Ancelotti’s sack might not have come as a surprise to the football world. This might be as a result of other clubs’ appointment of “living legends” as their manager. The appointment of the likes of Frank Lampard of Chelsea, Mikel Arteta of Arsenal, Andrea Pirlo of Juventus, and the previous appointment of Ole Gunnar Solskjear as Manchester United manager might have been the reason behind Gattuso’s appointment.

To some, the appointment of Gattuso was wide off the mark, a gamble that did not pay off but can we say that Gattuso was a failure at Napoli? It might be wrong to say such. Though there were some negatives, it is safe to say there were some brilliant moves from a manager regarded by some as an “amateur or raw”.

Gattuso’s first move in Napoli was to put an end to the ‘civil war’ in the club. This ‘civil war’ between the players led by Lorenzo Insigne and the administration of the club played a huge role in Ancelotti’s exit. Gattuso managed to bring an end to this by forming a strong bond with the partenopei captain. His straightforward personality and sincere nature made him a man the players could relate to. He was also a man young enough to understand the mentality of modern footballers, something that helped him keep the likes of Kalidou Koulibaly, Lorenzo Insigne, Arkadiusz Milik, Dries Mertens, and others at the club.

Another positive from the appointment of Ringhio was his ability to bring out the best from players who were not at their best form under the previous manager(s). A case study is that of the versatile Albanian Full back Elseid Hysaj who was regarded as one of the best full-backs in Italy under Maurizio Sarri’s reign but dropped down the pecking order under Ancelotti. Also, his patience with the new boy Hirving Lozano paid off as the Mexican began to hit his strides at the club. Fabian Ruiz also had a breakout season gaining the upper hand over Allan in Central Midfield.

Gattuso also brought in Matteo Politano from Inter Milan on loan with a loan fee of €2.5m and Fernando Llorente from Tottenham Hotspurs on a free transfer to strengthen the attack. Though they went on to finish seventh that season, there were some glimpses of hope for the following season. The confidence, play in style, and cohesion in the team was evident and they showed that by winning the Coppa Italia, edging Juventus 4-2 on penalties. This type of finish was a morale booster for the next season.

The 2020/2021 summer transfer window saw Gattuso bring in Tiemoue Bakayoko on loan from Chelsea to fix the Defensive midfield problem the previous season. He also made Andrea Petagna a mainstay in the squad after a loan spell at SPAL. The highlight of the transfer window was the Signing of Promising Nigerian Striker, Victor Osimhen from LOSC Lille for a club-record fee Of €70million bringing the search for a long-term replacement for Higuain to an end.

Gattuso’s started to show glimpses of his inexperience the previous season when he publicly called out players he felt were not giving enough on the pitch which was a direct contrast to the claim of him being a good man-manager. At the start of the new season, Napoli seemed to be a team to beat… So everyone thought after winning 8 matches out of 10. Things soon changed when Napoli lost two games in a row and Gattuso couldn’t steer his club back to consistent run of form. They were Eliminated from both the Europa League and the Coppa Italia early in the knockout stages.

The biggest struggle for Gattuso was the inability to bring out the best in Victor Osimhen. The Nigerian arrived at the club coming off a great season at LOSC Lille where he scored 18 goals and provided 6 assists in 38 games for the club scoring 13 In 27 league matches. He failed to hit the ground running in Serie A as battled with Injuries. Covid-19 hampered the Nigerian season limiting him to a tally of 10 goals in all competitions.

Gattuso might have shown his trust in the 22- year old by his stating clearly in the media his faith in him but it did not help in improving the consistency of the team who finished fifth on the log behind Juventus who beat them to the Champions League spot after the partenopei picked a one-all draw with Hellas Verona on the final matchday of the season.

Gattuso sack came stating the reason was due to their missing out of the Champions League spot but it might not be out of line to say that De Laurentiis realized he might have made a mistake bringing in an Inexperienced coach when he might have had a chance for the title seeing Juventus slipping up by letting another inexperienced coach in Andrea Pirlo take over the club. Also, seeing as the management of Antonio Conte, an experienced coach with a vast knowledge of Italian Football as coach of the Nerazzurri’s paid off with them winning the scudetto for the first time in Eleven years, he simply knew that if he wants to have a chance to compete for the Serie A, he must let Gattuso go and bring in an experienced coach who knows the theatrics of Italian Football.

Redemption at last?

The appointment of Luciano Spalletti as the manager of Napoli came with a lot of expectations from the Tuscan haveing been a force to reckon with in Italian Football over the last decades. Spalletti is known for his mastery in man-management and his tactical tricks. Coming in, Spalletti had a rather quiet transfer summer bringing in Juan Jesus from AS Roma to add stability to his backline. He also brought in Andre Zambo Anguissa on loan from Fulham to fill the defensive midfield vacuum caused by injuries picked up by Diego Demme and Stanislav Lobotka in the summer.

Spalletti, known for his pragmatic approach to the game knew that some of the players only needed an extra boost to find their footing again, implemented new training methods and exercises which looked to have helped some of the players. Most evident is the blazing form of the 22-year old Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen right form preseason, scoring four goals against Anaunia and scoring two against Bayern Munich. Victor Osimhen has brought that same form into the season scoring 7 goals and providing 1 assist in 8 games so far. Victor Osimhen has also been voted the Serie A player for the month of September beating Inter’s Nicolo Barella to the award. Spalletti when asked about Osimhen said: “Osimhen is a thoroughbred bomber. He can be a super striker. He just needs to understand a few things and he’s ready to be a world-class striker”.

Has Spalletti turned Napoli into a force this season? With them winning their first seven matches before the October international break and picking just two draws in 12 matches so far. Although they are level on point with AC Milan going into the November International break, they seem like the most resilient team in Italy. Will it be a façade like old times or will they finally get their long search for redemption in the Serie A? Time will tell and we’ve got a lot of it.