For any club to lose a player of Gonzalo Higuain’s calibre, it’s usual that it would be devastating. So when the Argentinian superstar left Naples for Turin in a Serie A record, 90 million euro deal, the people of Naples could perhaps be forgiven for becoming extremely upset with the man they idolized for 3 years.
Players Bought: Lorenzo Tonelli from Empoli €10Million, Piotr Zielinski from Udinese €16Million, Emanuele Giaccherini from Sunderland €1.5Million, Arkadiusz Milik from Ajax €29Million.
Total amount spent: €57.5 Million
Players Sold: Gonzalo Higuain to Juventus €90Million, Camilo Zuniga to Bologna on Loan with option to buy, Jonathan De Guzman to Chievo Loan with option to buy.
Total amount received: €90.46 Million.
Although Napoli lost 36 goal superstar Higuain to fierce rivals Juventus, you could perhaps be forgiven for saying Napoli have had a decent summer with regards to transfers. Napoli replaced Higuain with 22 Year old Arkadiusz Milik from Dutch giants Ajax, who hit an impressive 21 goals in 31 games for the Dutch side.
Napoli further boosted their defence with 26 Year old Lorenzo Tonelli from Empoli, who has been one of the most impressive central Defenders in Serie A in recent seasons. Napoli also recruited highly sought after Piotr Zielinski from Udinese who had been attracting interest from Liverpool among other clubs, himself being just 22 Years old.
With highly rated 21 Year old Marko Rog expected to arrive from Dinamo Zagreb next Week and 19 Year old Amadou Diawara rumored to be arriving from Bologna, as well as 24 Year old Nikola Maksimovic refusing to train at Torino unless they agree to sell him to Napoli, you could say Napoli have had a great summer of recruitment along with Juventus.
A key event that took place was club legend and captain, Marek Hamsik, signing a new long term contract ahead of the new Serie A Season. Napoli travel to newly promoted Pescara on Sunday with interested eyes focused on Maurizio Sarri’s side to see how Napoli bounce back from losing Higuain.
GENOA, ITALY – NOVEMBER 01: Jorginho of Napoli in action during the Serie A match between Genoa CFC and SSC Napoli at Stadio Luigi Ferraris on November 1, 2015 in Genoa, Italy. (Photo by Francesco Pecoraro/Getty Images)
The Partenopei have had an impressive pre-season hitting 31 goals and conceding just 1 goal. With Sarri expected to continue with his favored 4-3-3 formation that he used for the most part of last season, the probable Napoli team to play Pescara on Sunday at the Stadio Adriatico: Reina; Hysaj, Koulibaly, Albiol, Ghoulam; Allan, Hamsik, Jorginho; Insigne, Milik, Callejon.
It should be an interesting season for the Azzurri faithful with a young team to cheer on, and Champions League football returning to the ever intimidating Stadio San Paolo.
Although topping Juventus will be a difficult task, you can bet there will be an entire City hoping and praying for the spirit of San Gennaro to take Napoli to the promised land and for the 3rd Scudetto to arrive in Naples.
The minimum for Napoli should be a return to the Champions League for the 2017/18 season.
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