Football Season Guide

Had they not triumphed over Juventus in the Coppa Italia, Napoli would have had no reason to remember the past season. In fact, they never were in contention for the Scudetto nor for a top 4 finish, and also suffered an early exit from the Champions League. After a disastrous beginning of the campaign, also characterized by a rebellion in the squad, which eventually cost guru Ancelotti his job, they hired Gennaro Gattuso instead, but things really got going only after mid-January. Gattuso never gave Napoli the fantastic play they had displayed in the Sarri years, but he gave the team personality and a fighting attitude they might have lacked before, and for that reason, his confirmation at the helm was well deserved. Revenge is a dish best served cold and President De Laurentiis took his own personal revenge on some of the players who had led the rebellion during Ancelotti’s tenure. So, long-serving Callejon was released and Allan was sold to Everton, after losing his regular status in January. For one reason or another, since Higuain’s departure, Napoli had no 20-goal scorer, and so they invested a massive amount of cash for 21-year-old Osimhen, who did very well last season at Lille OSC, 13 goals and 5 assists. Petagna also arrived after the end of his loan at SPAL but he might be used as a pawn for some other exchange. Rrahmani is set to become a protagonist at the back after his extraordinary season at Hellas Verona, especially if Koulibaly ends up being sold abroad. Napoli are still searching for reliable full-backs, Di Lorenzo was surprising at right-back but had no valid alternative, a central midfielder, as Demme and Lobotka were far from outstanding, and wingers. With Callejon gone and Lozano looking like a bad investment, Politano does not seem to be enough for the right wing.