Football Season Guide

Since their return to the top flight of the Italian football in 2007, Napoli have been trying to establish themselves as one of the leaders of the Serie A and of the European football as well. For such reason, President De Laurentiis has been investing enormous amounts of money during each transfer window. Indeed, this has paid off but not as much as expected. In fact, apart from securing the Coppa Italia, Napoli have been incapable of winning the Scudetto and going further than the Group of 16 of the Champions League. In the past campaign, with coach Benitez in charge, Napoli never actually managed to fight for the main Italian competition, as too huge was the gap between themselves and the two leaders, Juventus and Roma. Thus, with the Spaniard still at the helm, Napoli will now aim at subverting the state of things. So far, though, the transfer campaign does not seem to have been as glamorous as in the past seasons. Reina, whose loan expired, left for Bayern Munchen while Réveillère and Doblas were let go without any regrets. Behrami and Fernandez were sold to Hamburg and Swansea respectively. Koulibaly, who arrived from Genk and seems likely to earn himself a starting place in the heart of the defence, and Michu, who is a loanee from Swansea and should represent a valid alternative to support the lone striker Higuain in the usual 4-2-3-1 formation, are the only remarkable new arrivals. However, several players returned from loans elsewhere and they might become fundamental in the next future: this is certainly the case of Andujar, who could contend with Rafael for a place in goals, or Gargano, who could give Inler and Jorginho a chance to rest when most needed. The feeling is that more signings are to come in the next two weeks as the squad lack some depth, especially in the attack and in defence. A lot will obviously depend on the result of the Champions League playoffs against Athletic Bilbao.