Napoli: Benitez era promises much

A new era beckons at Napoli under Rafael Benitez

After having battled their way to a second place finish last year, changes seemed almost inevitable at Napoli. The sale of Cavani was a blow, but the money has been invested wisely, meaning Napoli have a deep squad with a very real chance of winning Serie A.

Cavani was Mr. Napoli for all three of his seasons at the club, although his fee rising to just €17 million. However, the Uruguayan’s blistering pace, energy, and unique yet accurate finishing made him the talk of European football at times.

Napoli’s impressive 2011/12 Champions League campaign gave foreign clubs their best glimpse yet of what Cavani could do, with help from Ezequiel Lavezzi, Juan Zuniga, Marek Hamsik, Goran Pandev, and others. Champions League football did not return to Naples for the 2012/13 season, as they finished fifth in Serie A, and despite winning the Coppa Italia, rumours began to circulate over the future of the club’s key players.

Having already suffered deep financial turmoil and troubles in previous years, Napoli’s owners knew they could not be reckless or overly ambitious, forcing the club to make tough decisions. Lavezzi left for PSG in the summer of 2012, and many expected Cavani to leave then.

However, he stayed, and proved once more that he was one of the world’s very finest strikers. Cavani’s thoroughly destructive performance against FC Dnipro of Ukraine in the Europa League, a match in which he scored all four goals in a 4-2 victory, was essentially a one match highlight reel of the electrifying Uruguayan. Cavani finished the season with a staggering 38 goals in 43 matches in all competitions, making a move seem almost certain.

Yet again, it was PSG who bought one of Napoli’s stalwarts, with the fee being around €64 million, almost four times the fee spent on Cavani in the first place. Many have begun questioning Napoli’s potential in the Champions League and Serie A without their talisman, but the signings made, as well as the arrival of Rafael Benitez means Napoli could change from being a tricky team to beat with a few in-demand players to being a genuine and consistent European powerhouse.

Napoli’s most notable coup this summer has been Gonzalo Higuain, the Argentine who spent six years at the mighty Real Madrid, but never really reached the heights of certain previous Madrid strikers. Still, the length of Higuain’s stint at Los Meringues and his goal record that reads 122 goals in 246 games proves that he is a world class signing, and could well be one of Serie A’s elite strikers.

Just like they did when Cavani was scoring goals for fun, Napoli have plenty of creativity in their squad, with Hamsik, Insigne, and another man signed from Madrid this summer, the technically gifted Jose Callejón, who never quite got enough games for Madrid to really impress. He will be hungry to show why he was touted as a future star in his younger days.