Tag: Napoli

Napoli suffered a third consecutive defeat in all competitions and manager Sarri admitted that the club are making life difficult for themselves.

After an excellent start to the league campaign that saw them go toe-to-toe with Juventus in the last few games, a shock loss against Atalanta has seen results plummet since then. A 1-0 defeat against Atalanta would have been forgiven as a freak result, but Napoli showed signs of a much bigger hurt inside. The team lost 3-1 to Roma during the weekend and they followed this up with a shock 3-2 loss against Besiktas in the Champions League.

Napoli suffered a third consecutive defeat in all competitions and manager Sarri admitted that the club are making life difficult for themselves.

After an excellent start to the league campaign that saw them go toe-to-toe with Juventus in the last few games, a shock loss against Atalanta has seen results plummet since then. A 1-0 defeat against Atalanta would have been forgiven as a freak result, but Napoli showed signs of a much bigger hurt inside. The team lost 3-1 to Roma during the weekend and they followed this up with a shock 3-2 loss against Besiktas in the Champions League.

Apart from denting their chances of winning the league title once again, the latest defeat puts them in a spot of bother when it comes to the Champions League. Napoli do lead the table ahead of Besiktas, but this result has allowed Benfica to close the gap on the Italian outfit. The three teams are not separated by just only two points and the group could swing either way. At the moment, Napoli look highly likely to lose their top spot in the group. The three consecutive defeats have led to a lot of questions and Sarri to will have to come up with answers soon.

The club’s next match in the league is against Crotone with a trip to Juventus coming before the end of October.”We are complicating matters for ourselves. We are playing well, but make mistakes at crucial times.The first goal was a defensive mistake, the second was one where the defence was not involved and we were too naive for the third goal. Plus the third goal was offside as well.But I saw progress compared to the game against Roma. We made a small step again,” said the Napoli manager after the latest defeat.

Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis stated that the team should always aim higher.

He said that the club had progressed well since he took over but he believes that there is still room for improvement. He stated that the team should always seek to aim higher.

Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis stated that the team should always aim higher.

He said that the club had progressed well since he took over but he believes that there is still room for improvement. He stated that the team should always seek to aim higher.

Aurelio De Laurentiis recused the club from bankruptcy in 2004 and had rebuilt it into a competitive team. Indeed the team is now participating in the Champions League, and the President believes that this has been a great achievement in itself.

He said that an act of service motivated his decision to rescue the club. He said that the whole city was suffering from the fact that the club was bankrupt, and he had to do something for it. It is at this moment that he decided that he had to save Napoli. He said that it was a difficult thing for him as he had lost contact with the world of football and he had to learn everything gradually.

He stated that it was a great accomplishment to have brought the team from the Serie C to the Champions League, but he believes that things do not stop here. He said that we should always aim higher if you do not want to stagnate and regress. He stated that it is his philosophy, and this is what he has inculcated in Napoli. He stated that he has many plans for the club, and he wants to bring the club to the highest level in football.

Aurelio De Laurentiis said that his primary focus is to rebuild the stadium and make sure that it has all the necessary facilities for fans to watch games in the best possible condition. However, he regrets that he is not getting enough backing from the local authorities.

Napoli are in talks with Italian outfit Empoli to sign midfielder Piotr Zielinski to replace Jordan Henderson, according to reports in Italy.

Napoli look to use the Poland international to prop up their midfield ahead of the coming season as they hope to close in on Juventus after losing to them in second place last season. Piotr Zielinski is a talented player who will line up alongside Bayern Munich star Robert Lewandowski at Euro 2016 in France.

Napoli are in talks with Italian outfit Empoli to sign midfielder Piotr Zielinski to replace Jordan Henderson, according to reports in Italy.

Napoli look to use the Poland international to prop up their midfield ahead of the coming season as they hope to close in on Juventus after losing to them in second place last season. Piotr Zielinski is a talented player who will line up alongside Bayern Munich star Robert Lewandowski at Euro 2016 in France.

Zielinski spent the last two seasons on loan with Empoli and has 63 caps to his belt for the club. It was his performance for the club at the Serie A that attracted the attention of Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp. Klopp who has led The Reds to two finals in his first season at Anfield hopes to remodel his squad this summer ahead of his first full Premier League campaign, after coming on to take over the helms for Brendan Rodgers last summer.

Zielinski is believed to be one of his top targets and there were reports that the deal could go through but Napoli seem to have the upper hand at signing the player now. However, the 22-year-old player recently spoke of his admiration for the Liverpool boss when he said:

“Regardless of my personal situation, Klopp is one of the best managers around and it would certainly be an honour to work with him.”
According to an Italian source Corriere dello Sport, the Serie A side are deep in negotiations with Udinese, who is Zielinski’s parent club. There are also reports from La Gazetta dello Sport that it could go the way of a swap deal with Udinese offering a choice between Mirko Valdifiori, Juan Zuniga and Christian Maggio in exchange for Zielinski. This is not the first time both clubs would be dealing and the mutual respect between the clubs could help seal the deal. Zielinski will be in representing Poland at Euro 2016, where they will take on Germany, Northern Ireland and Ukraine.

Napoli had a tough end to the season as they fell short of Juventus in the final furlongs. This summer they will have to retain their main men, as Gonzalo Higuain, Kalidou Koulibaly and Elseid Hysaj have all been linked with moves away. Whilst the Partenopei have been linked with players, the selection may surprise some as they are not all household names.

Pitor Ziellinski: Napoli President, Aurelio De Laurentiis has already claimed that he has reached an agreement with Udinese for their Polish attacking midfielder. According to Premium Sport, the 22-year old will cost 15 million Euro but while the club have agreed a fee it is rumoured that the player himself is holding out to see if any more offers come in.

Napoli had a tough end to the season as they fell short of Juventus in the final furlongs. This summer they will have to retain their main men, as Gonzalo Higuain, Kalidou Koulibaly and Elseid Hysaj have all been linked with moves away. Whilst the Partenopei have been linked with players, the selection may surprise some as they are not all household names.

Pitor Ziellinski: Napoli President, Aurelio De Laurentiis has already claimed that he has reached an agreement with Udinese for their Polish attacking midfielder. According to Premium Sport, the 22-year old will cost 15 million Euro but while the club have agreed a fee it is rumoured that the player himself is holding out to see if any more offers come in.

With five goals and six assists this season the Pole has impressed whilst playing out on loan at Empoli and was an obvious pick for the Polish squad in France. He is a player Maurizio Sarri rates highly and would fit into Napoli’s system with consummate ease.

Leandrihno: The 17-year-old Brazilian is being watched by Real Madrid and Manchester United amongst others and whilst still very young is showing great potential. The striker has been in superlative form this season with nine goals in eight games for Pronte Preta this season. He has pace and a natural instinct for goal and what’s more he possesses a lot of maturity for his years.

His agent has claimed to Radio CRC that he prefers the Bay of Naples in which to ply his trade as he believes he will get more playing time. He can sign in January 2017 when he turns 18 years of age and could be a real coup of he moves to San Paolo.

Fabinho: The Brazilian is primarily a right back but can also move into midfield with consummate ease. The 22-year old has been capped four times by Brazil and in his 47 appearances for Monaco he has scored an impressive eight goals and produced five assists. He is like many of their targets young, talented but mature although he may carry a hefty price tag as he is being tracked by many of Europe’s top clubs.

Corentin Tolisso: Napoli are battling Arsenal for the signature of Lyon midfielder Corentin Tolisso. The 21-year old has had a strong campaign and he is strong, quick and can play in more than one position on the midfield. His passing is also exemplary and he could be a useful asset to cover or play alongside Marek Hamsik.

Gianluca Lapadula: Finally, the Gazzetta Dello Sport has reported that there is a deal in place with Napoli and Pescara for the sale of striker Gianluca Lapadula. The deal will cost 9 million Euros with a possible extra 2 million Euros in bonuses and that is needed is an agreement from the player. The 22-year old forward has been prolific in Pescara’s promotion race and is certainly seen as one of Italy’s hot prospects. Lazio have also been interested but it seems that this could be Napoli’s first purchase of the summer.

Italian club side Napoli are reported to be interested in keeping their defender Kalidou Koulibaly who is attracting serious buzz in the transfer market.

English Premier League clubs especially Arsenal and Chelsea are desperate for the services of the player. On the other hand, Napoli have told the clubs to stay away that the 24-year old is not for sale.

Italian club side Napoli are reported to be interested in keeping their defender Kalidou Koulibaly who is attracting serious buzz in the transfer market.

English Premier League clubs especially Arsenal and Chelsea are desperate for the services of the player. On the other hand, Napoli have told the clubs to stay away that the 24-year old is not for sale.

Kalidou Koulibaly was impressive last season for Napoli and is attracting a buzz in the transfer market of up to £23m. However, Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has told interested clubs that Koulibaly is not for sale. The Senegal international still had up to three years on his current contract, so there really is no need to sell. The bookmakers certainly do think he’ll go, with StanJames offering odds of just 1/5 that he will be somewhere else come September the 1st and the close of the Transfer Window.

According to Italian source, Gianluca Di Marzio, the player’s agent is apparently trying to negotiate a new contract with the Partenopei as Koulibaly is on relatively very low wages. There are speculations that the player could move elsewhere. Chelsea’s new manager Anthonio Conte is very keen on the player and is set to place a bid of £30m aside bonus to lure the player to England. The player has high demands and with Chelsea’s offer, Koulibaly could be a blue next season.

On the other hand, there are reports that Spanish club Atletico Madrid sidelined Napoli to sign Sime Vrsaljko. However, Sassuolo director Giovanni Carnevali denied such reports.

He said “We have never spoken directly to Atletico Madrid for Sime Vrsaljko, but are negotiating with Napoli. We’ll see what happens, but in any case we are not forced to sell anyone, especially not Vrsaljko. If he does leave, it’ll be only at the right conditions for him and for Sassuolo. If not, he will remain with us.”

Napoli are also believed to have offered €12m plus €3m bonuses and the loan of Duvan Zapata, who is currently on loan at Udinese. The club has been active in the transfer market as they hope to retain their spot in the league and do well in the continental campaigns.

Napoli are ready to embark on perhaps the two most pivotal months in their recent history as they chase down Juventus in pursuit of their first Serie A title since 1990.

Toppling the Old Lady won’t be easy

Napoli are ready to embark on perhaps the two most pivotal months in their recent history as they chase down Juventus in pursuit of their first Serie A title since 1990.

Toppling the Old Lady won’t be easy
Whilst ‘squeaky bum time’ may not be an adage that translates particularly well into the Italian language, it will certainly be a sentiment that rings true with many pundits taking the view, including Napoli midfielder Marek Hamsik himself, that Gli Azzurri need to win all of their remaining eight games should they wish to overturn the three-point gap that stands between them and the Old Lady at the top of the Serie A table at the time of writing.

In short, Napoli need to be faultless. After all, you can see why nothing less than perfection will do against a Juventus side who for the last two or three seasons have stormed to the Serie A title without so much as an iota of competition from any of Italy’s historic clubs.

Just last year, despite partaking in a gruelling 57-game season which included a run all the way to the final of the UEFA Champions League where they were beaten by Barcelona, the Turin-based side were still able to bring home the Scudetto with a cushy 17-point buffer.

And with less than a quarter to go of this season’s domestic campaign, the latest Serie A betting odds have Massimiliano Allegri’s men at 2/7 to retain the title as of the beginning of April.

Napoli need to play to their strengths
For Napoli, whilst they may not possess the cultured ‘match winners’ they did back in the heady days of Diego Maradona and co, by modern standards, ‘firepower’ is still of a real surplus in their fledgling squad this season.

Argentine striker Gonzalo Higuain has gone from strength to strength since his arrival from Real Madrid back in 2013 and, as a result, is the league’s top scorer and is a long way ahead of Juve striker Paulo Dybala.

And such is the attacking talent that Napoli have at their disposal, that manager Maurizio Sarri would be stupid not to ‘release the shackles’ so to speak and just let his side go for it.

It’s now or never
With some of Europe’s elite clubs rumoured to be sniffing around a clutch of Napoli’s most prized footballing assets (both Higuain and Lorenzo Insigne have been the subject of attention recently), the inconvenient truth is that this may be the west coast side’s best chance of bringing home the Scudetto for quite some time.

And whilst this piece of knowledge will do little to alleviate the nerves around the Stadio San Paolo for the remainder of the season, it is important for Napoli fans to remember that Juve themselves won’t be without their concerns.

For one thing, three points is an extremely slender lead for a side who have not had to ‘battle’ their way to a domestic league title for quite some time.

And with Napoli’s more favourable end-of-season run-in, Juve will likely be just as nervous as they are, with both clubs preparing to venture on the final leg of a title race that will surely go right down to the wire.

Maurizio Sarri believes Napoli were unlucky to fail to win against Milan. Napoli would have topped the Italian Premier Division table if that Milan game had earned them full 3 points, but Milan held them on 1-1, letting them get just one point and ensuring there is no change in the top two positions in the table.

It was only the previous week that Napoli had lost their top spot when they had been downed by Juventus by 0-1 in the head to head clash in Turin.

Maurizio Sarri believes Napoli were unlucky to fail to win against Milan. Napoli would have topped the Italian Premier Division table if that Milan game had earned them full 3 points, but Milan held them on 1-1, letting them get just one point and ensuring there is no change in the top two positions in the table.

It was only the previous week that Napoli had lost their top spot when they had been downed by Juventus by 0-1 in the head to head clash in Turin. And, they would be ruing the fact that they couldn’t quite make use of this opportunity to get that spot back again. At some points this season, Napoli were shorter than the best racng odds to win the league, but they have since drifted to around 5/1 after Juve reclaimed the top spot.

Sarri put that all down to luck and was quite bullish in stating the fact that his team was superior to Milan in all departments of the game.

He was quoted as saying, “You see what percentage of possession the two sides had in first 45 minutes. Milan was not even close to us, still the scores were levelled and that was gutting from our perspective because we knew we should have been ahead at that stage.”

“And, then as it went further, it sort of became a bit irritating for us to be honest. We wanted the lead somehow and we took our chances too, but, as I said, we were probably not lucky enough on the night.”

“The support and energy of the spectators in the stadium was extraordinary and I think I owe them an apology for not being able to win, but, on the basis of my analysis of the game, I can tell you there were some positives to be taken out of that performance.”
Napoli and Juventus are separated by just one point and neither of the two teams can afford a loose game at the moment.