This is how I see things: We have clearly peaked under ADL I have said for a while that at some point the players will get demotivated. Last year was draining and losing it left its mark. Players don’t believe they can win here (Insigne’s recent statement, Merten’s comment about Fabian going to a bigger club, Hamsik and Allan wanting to leave). The problem will be fixed only with spending money but ADL is a business man. He won’t do that. If he was a businessman with long term ambitions he would spend in youth facilities, better scouting (instead of just relying on Guintoli), proper marketing (meaning hiring professional firms, better branding, shirts with adidas or Nike with one logo that is matched with the shirt) and a proper stadium. But he won’t do that. Our old sporting director Marino said he often would come with plans for a stadium and ADL would not even look at them. The club is very well run for a provincial club but there is simply no infrastructure and the revenue gap to top teams in Europe and to Juve will widen. For a club like Napoli, a coach like Sarri who focuses on movements and repeats them in training until players get used to them is better than Ancelotti. Ancelotti is better for clubs with big players where focus is on motivation, belief in winning and making the most of individual talent. Ancelotti can also attract a lot of stars but at Napoli that is not going to be of any use. I believe Ancelotti is fascinated by Napoli and sees this as a great project before retirement. I also don’t think post Sarri we have many better options (maybe Gasperini). But I have no doubt that ADL brought Ancelotti to be able to again talk about a new cycle. Ancelotti has an impossible task. He needs to motivate players who don’t believe the club will ever win and fans who are demotivated and also fed up with the stadium. I think we need a fresh start. We have sold Hamsik (20M). We can sell Inglese (20M), Vicinius (15M), Sepe (5M), Grassi (5M), Tonelli (2M). We need more cash and a new cycle. I hope we also sell Insigne (80M), Allan (70M), Callejon (20M), Ounas (10M), Chiriches (5M), Hysaj (25M), Mario Ruin (10M). I am unsure about Diawara and Rog. But give Ancelotti 300M and see what he can do on top of Meret, Koulibaly, Albiol, Maksimovic, Ghoulam, Zielinski, Fabian, Verdi, Younes, Mertens, Milik
Agreed with all you said about ADL. I probably hate him as much as you in this forum. For rescuing Napoli in the past, we are all eternally grateful but he keeps playing this card and by now, his credibility is all gone. All he has are smokes and mirrors, talking very big while having no real substance and action to back it up. And not even the players, even us fans are disillusioned. This is evident from the fans turnout. On squad movement, agree with what you said except I think we should try to keep Insigne ( unless he want to leave ) and sell Mertens. I think Mertens is clearly on the decline by now unless we want to keep him as a bench player. Allan has lost his motivation so he should go. Hysaj, Mario Rui and Ounas are all limited players and they should go if we are going to do a revamp. I'll keep Milik unless we have a proven striker willing to join. Diawara is garbage. He should go. Rog...that's hard to decide. To be fair to him, he has not been given a decent amount of game time to proof himself. I am afraid K2 will go. Why should a world class player play for a provincial club like Napoli with an owners that is keen on counting pennies then win something? He is wasted here and I afraid he will soon realized that esp if we don't win anything end of this season.
I'm not sure about k2 is a top top class.He didn't prove himself at QF , SF or CL final . He can be top top class but we can't know that right now
Disagree with Insigne vs. Mertens for a practical reason. Mertens gets you less than 20M and Insigne over 80M. Agree to everything else.
He is perceived as such at least by other clubs which is why he has a 100M+ price tag and the player worth the most money, all the ADL will cash in on him I afraidt. Also, without him to mop up and thaw the attacks, our defense looks very vulnerable. Insigne can probably only fetch 50 to 60M now based on his current performance. As much as I like our little prick, he's terribly inconsistent. Some games he looks like world class and next one he played like crap. Just never know when the real Insigne will show up.
GOAL G: Meret / Ospina / Karnezis -> Sell Sepe 5M FULL BACKS L: NEW / Ghoulam R: MILINKOVIC / Malcuit -> Sell Hysaj and Mario Rui 35M -> Buy two top wingbacks (50M) CENTER BACK LCB: Koulibaly / Luperto RCB: MANCINI / Maksimovic -> Sell Albiol, Chiriches, Tonelli 10M -> Buy Mancini (30M) MIDFIELD LM: Zielinski / Verdi / Younes LCM: Fabian / FORNALS RCM: JAMES / Rog RM: LAZARO / LAZZARI -> We sold Hamsik 20M -> Sell Allan 70M, Diawara 25M, Callejon 15M, Ounas 10M, Grassi 5M -> Buy James Rodrigues (60M), Fornals (30M), Lazzari (25M), and Lazaro (20M) ATTACK LOZANO / Mertens / Younes DE PAUL / Milik -> Sell Insigne 80M, Inglese 20M, Vinicius, 15M, Ciciretti 5M -> Buy Lozano (45M), De Paul (35M) Total Sale: 295M Total Buy: (295M)
LOZANO/Mertens/Younes - DEPAUL/Mil Ziel/Verdi/Younes - Fabian/FORNALS - JAMES/Rog - LAZARO/LAZARRI NEW/Gh - K2/Lup - MANC/Maks - MIL/Mal Meret/Ospina This is an exciting team. It is very compact in defence. Lazaro and Lazarri make right midfield more compact as well. James, Lozano and De Paul bring excitement. Fornals and Lazaro are huge new prospects. The team is very young. Mertens is the only outfield player above 30. Make Koulibaly captain and Mertens and Meret vice captain.
I think Lozano is already wanted by Manchester United and other big clubs. Chances of him joining us is low. Captains in Italian clubs are decided mostly by seniority. So if Mertens stayed, he will be captain. Actually, I think the captain position is often over-rated. Unless we have personality like Ramos. Those are a dying breed.
We seriously need to build our name and market outside of Italy. We have little to no international name recognition. Even in my part of the world in Asia, hardly anyone even knows who is Napoli. I am the odd ball out. Most support Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayer, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and other PL clubs. F***king ADL only cares about counting pennies. Does Napoli even have a marketing department?
Fantasy football: Milik/Inglese Lozano/Younes - James/Zielinski - Callejon/Ounas Fabian/Fornals - Allan Ghoulam/Rui - Maksi/Albiol - Koulibaly/Chiriches - Malcuit/Lazzari Meret Is it possible ? No we have ADL lmfao
It is a very weak team with one of Milik/Inglese starting and Callejon/Ounas. Also does not address any of our defensive problems,
Well, we need marketing and those stuff as well. Manchester United is an extremely well marketed club. Even when they are mid-table, playing only Europa league and ugly football under Mourinho, they still got a lot of following especially internationally. We are nowhere near that unfortunately.
Besides wishful thinking, what else are you basing these evaluations on? 1. We're not selling 3/4 of our players. 2. No one is paying 20 million for Inglese 3. No one is paying 15 million for Vinicius
Well the changes are wishful thinking. The prices are based on rumours in the media. Have seen Vicinius start for Monaco.
Talking about wishful thinking, I wonder if a coach like Conte will be a better fit ( or a cure ) for Napoli to once and for all, kick out the loser mentality that is a persistent plague with this club. Yes, he's a Juventino which rules him out of contention, but he's the first coach that had effectively turn around Juventus's fortune from mid table to consecutive title winners. I have this nagging feeling that Ancelotti, while a good coach, is just too "nice" to the players. Looking at those training photos and videos and the players instagram posts, it always seems to me that the players during training are having fun ( laughing and joking ) than being serious. We need someone to bring a sledgehammer to the table to instill mental discipline.
Ancelotti's style seems to be that the players play at their best when they are most relaxed whereas Conte is the type to drill in tactics to them. Depends on the type of team you have, technically talented players would prefer Ancelotti over Conte I assume and that's why he has a great rapport with all ex players except for that stint with Bayern oddly enough ..
I think ADL also wanted Conte. Conte is what we need. I love Ancelotti much more but he is too relaxed and in my opinion past it and even in his prime was a cup coach. Conte will bring discipline. It cannot be that our players were laughing on the pitch and bench when we were losing to Arsenal.
Conte will be a really good option should Ancelotti resigned/sacked. However, he will demand a sizeable transfer budget, something ADL will not be prepared to do.
Sorry but Giampaolo has gotten nowhere close to Europe. I would take Gasperini but reality is without investment no coach will beat Juve or progress in Europe.
How about Getafe's coach José Bordalás? Getafe is a small club with limited resources and few seasons back was relegated in 2nd division but now sits among the top 4 in La Liga. That's quite an achievement and worth taking a closer look.