In pre-season, there were a large number of Serie A experts who predicted that Napoli would crash and burn this campaign. Indeed, most predicted that the Partenopei wouldn’t even make it into the top four in Serie A.
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The reason for this was because Napoli sold off half of their first team, including all of their most experienced leaders.
Towering centre back Kalidou Koulibaly was sold to Chelsea for €40m, classy centre midfielder Fabian Ruiz to PSG for €25m, while legendary captain Lorenzo Insigne and all-time top scorer Dries Mertens were released, moving to Toronto and Galatasaray, respectively. They also lost first-choice goalkeeper David Ospina.
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Although It was said Napoli couldn’t possibly recover from losing so many key figures not only on the pitch, but more so in the changing room. These were big characters.
In their place came mostly unheralded and developing players. Khvicha Kvaratshkelia, Kim Min-Jae, Giacomo Raspadori, Mathias Olivera, Leo Ostigard, Giovanni Simeone, Tanguy N’Dombele and Salvatore Sirigu.
It must be noted that Napoli actually made a net profit on their transfer dealings (although some of these are loans that will turn into permanent transfers). They also cut their wage bill massively.
All of which makes it truly remarkable that Napoli have been arguably the best team in Europe so far this season. And certainly the best team to watch.
Their 4-2 victory over Ajax on Wednesday evening in Naples means they have already qualified for the Champions League last 16 after four wins out of four. They have scored 17 goals in the process, more than anyone else in the competition. They thrashed last season’s finalists Liverpool 4-1 during this run.
In all games in all competitions they have scored a ridiculous 39 goals in 13 games – averaging three goals per game.
That means they are top of Serie A and fans are dreaming of a first Scudetto since the Diego Maradona heydays of 1990.
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