Napoli will be back in the Champions League next season after a disappointing 2011/12 league campaign left them out of Europe’s top cup competition, but the team that plays in the tournament may look very different than the one that qualified for it.
Already, manager Walter Mazzarri and defender Hugo Campagnaro – two key pieces of Napoli’s success over the past few seasons – have left for Inter. And those two were hardly the ones with the biggest targets on their backs.
With Neymar signing with Barcelona and Falcao joining Europe’s newest “superteam” Monaco, Edinson Cavani is now perhaps this summer’s most sought after transfer target. Cavani has played like a man on fire for Napoli since joining from Palermo in 2010. He’s scored at least 23 goals in each of his three seasons at Napoli and had his best season this past campaign, scoring 29 goals and winning the Capocannoniere.
Cavani’s been linked with a move away from the San Paolo for years, but owner Aurelio De Laurentiis has thus far successfully kept him at the club. De Laurentiis once famously said he wouldn’t even consider a bid under € 100 million. Times are changing though and for the first time it looks like De Laurentiis has conceded that he can’t keep Cavani at Napoli forever. De Laurentiis was recently in England has talked to Manchester City about Cavani and a possible swap for striker Edin Dzeko. That is hardly a done deal and Cavani’s father has said that the Urugyan striker’s future lies in Spain.
No matter what Cavani’s future holds, it would be best for Napoli to find that out sooner rather than later. If he stays, the club will need to invest money to make a Champion’s League run. If he goes, Napoli will need time to try to replace its best player and that certainly is an unenviable task. Cavani contributed 40 percent of Napoli’s goals this past campaign, the highest percentage in Serie A. More than his goal contribution, he defensive work rate is impressive for such a prolific goal scorer. That won’t be easily replaced.
With or without Cavani, it will be a season of change for the club. With Rafa Benitez at the helm, it will be interesting to see what formation he favors. The three-man backline has become synonymous with Napoli, but with the loss of Campagnaro, far and away Napoli’s best centre-back and one of the best in Serie A last season, Benitez may be enticed to switch back to a four-man defense. Christian Maggio and Juan Zuñiga both function better as wing-backs than fullbacks, so an upgrade at one or both positions would be needed. If he sticks with the three-man backline, the team will need to find a replacement for Campagnaro. Either way, they’re going to have to spend money on defensive improvements.
More than replacements, Napoli will need to add depth over the summer if they hope to make a run in both Champions League and for the Scudetto. Last term, the Europa League made it painfully obvious how thin this Napoli side was. Napoli were far too reliant on Cavani. When he didn’t play, Napoli generally played poorly and they exited the tournament following a shocking 2-0 defeat to Viktoria Plzen. In 2011/12, the fatigue from surviving the group of death contributed to a disappointing fifth place finish in the league. If Napoli hopes to avoid the same fate, they need to get deeper with players who can rotate into games without being liabilities.
Napoli were dealt a huge blow last season when Ezequiel Lavezzi transferred to Paris. St. Germain, but his absence was hardly noticeable. Marek Hamsik moved to a more central role and had his best season, providing 14 assists and adding 11 goals in league play. Lorenzo Insigne showed promise in his first full season in Serie A. But it’s doubtful the team will have a similar level of success after losing a player of Cavani’s pedigree. The striker’s transfer seems inevitable, but can the club hold onto him for one final run at the Scudetto? It’s going to be a nervy few months for Napoli supporters, that’s for sure.
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