Can Napoli win Serie A this season?
In 2022/23, no football team across Europe’s top 5 divisions have won more matches than Napoli’s 14 (level with Arsenal’s 14 EPL wins and PSG’s 14 wins in Ligue 1). The current Serie A leaders are approaching the halfway mark of the season having played some of the most captivating, swashbuckling football to boot.
So, can they last the course and claim their first Scudetto in 33 years? Let’s look at it from a few angles.
First we need to talk about Diego
One cannot discuss Napoli without evoking memories of the great man because Diego Maradona will forever be synonymous with Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli. He was the driving force behind their Serie A successes in 1987 and 1990 (to this day, the only 2 Scudetti they’ve ever lifted). It’s difficult to picture how wild the scenes in Naples will be if the class of 2023 can go all the way. Maradona is the most iconic in a long string of stellar names to wear I Partenopei’s famous colours.
Napoli, the home of the cult hero
Between 2010 and the present day, Napoli fans have been treated to the dazzling talents of Ezequiel Lavezzi, Edinson Cavani, Marek Hamšik, all-time leading scorer Dries Mertens, Gonzalo Higuaín, Kalidou Koulibaly and Lorenzo Insigne among others. There’s never a dull moment at what’s now known as Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
Does Luciano Spalletti have the pedigree?
Napoli’s 63-year-old manager is a vastly experienced tactician who knows Italian football like the back of his hand. He claimed 2 Coppa Italia titles with Roma in 2007 and 2008 after guiding Udinese to a 4th-place finish in 2005 with severe odds and financial constraints stacked against him.
He has also been named Serie A Coach of the Year on 2 occasions, in 2006 and 2007. Spalletti won 4 trophies during a half-decade stint with Russian giants Zenit St Petersburg before returning to Italy with Roma, Inter and now Napoli.
Spalletti favours attacking “total football” with a large emphasis on dominating possession. The 4-2-3-1 that he has typically deployed down the years has become more of a 4-3-3 with attacking midfielder Eljif Elmas operating as the spare man for this new-look Napoli side. His rise to prominence has softened the blow of Fabian Ruiz’s BIG-money move to PSG last year.
A recent mini wobble was swiftly addressed
Gli Azzurri's defeat to Inter on 4th January, their first of the season, may have sowed a few seeds of doubt but they recovered immediately with a comfortable 2-0 win away to Sampdoria courtesy of goals from Victor Osimhen and North Macedonian playmaker Elmas. That sets them up nicely for the visit of Juventus on Friday 13th January.
Will Napoli’s squad depth be a concern?
Probably not, especially in attack. With the likes of Hirving Lozano, Euros winner Giacomo Raspadori and Giovanni Simeone (double figures for Serie A goals in 4 of his 6 completed seasons) not guaranteed a starting berth, it’s clear that Spalletti has a number of striking options available to him.
There are also numerous goal threats all over the pitch. Polish midfield general Piotr Zielinski, a key player last season, hasn’t started as regularly with 28-year-old Slovakian Stanislav Lobotka becoming a mainstay alongside Cameroonian dynamo André-Frank Zambo Anguissa. Tanguy Ndombele, on loan from Tottenham, is yet another intriguing wildcard central midfield option.
What about Napoli’s defence?
They’ve conceded just 13 goals in 17 matches so far this league season. So far, so good. Only Juventus (7) have conceded fewer at this juncture. The leader and marshal of their back 4 is the outstanding 26-year-old South Korean star, Kim Min-jae. His partner in defence, 31-year-old left-footed Brazilian Juan Jesus, has seen it all before in Serie A with stints at Roma and Inter before settling in Naples.
Right full-back Giovanni Di Lorenzo starred for Italy at the Euros and, on the other flank, Portuguese left-back Mário Rui is a veteran with international experience. The imposing Amir Rrahmani, a man who captains the Kosovo national team, is a more than capable centre-back option too. Kalidou Koulibaly’s exit to Chelsea was always going to be a blow, but they seem to be coping so far.
Interesting mix of restoration projects and emerging stars
We spoke about all-action midfielder André-Frank Zambo Anguissa
and he’s worthy of more discussion. The ex-Fulham man has dazzled in Napoli’s midfield and truly found a home in Serie A after a nomadic start to his career. His experience at both ends of the table in elite European league competitions will serve him well in Napoli’s title chase, especially when the going gets tough.
Another African talent, 24-year-old Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen, is arguably their BIGGEST box-office star. If the massive €80m price tag weighed heavily on him after he arrived in mid-2020, the rangy-running forward is now blossoming and giving defenders sleepless nights on a regular basis.
The ex-Lille man is the first player to hit double figures for goals in Serie A this season after his strike against Sampdoria, and also one of the first names on the Napoli team sheet.
Elmas is Napoli’s newest cult favourite
The ultra-gifted Eljif Elmas is the heir to the Goran Pandev (once a Napoli favourite too) attacking midfield throne in North Macedonia. They qualified for the last Euros (their first ever major tournament participation) and memorably dumped Italy out of WC22 contention in the play-offs last March. Elmas is still only 23 but he already shoulders a lot of responsibility. Napoli will look to build around Elmas the way they did when Slovakian legend and former skipper Marek Hamšik pulled their strings with that famous mohawk.
Replacing legends
When Lorenzo Insigne and Dries Mertens left Napoli in 2022, a mild level of panic set in around the club. Filling the voids left by such influential stars was never going to be straightforward, but Napoli seem to have done so with minimal fuss. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (yes, it’s a mouthful, resulting in the nickname Kvaradona, the ultimate compliment in Naples) has been a handful for full backs around Italy and Europe all season and is currently the standout, breakout star of Serie A.
The 21-year-old Georgian has 8 goals and 8 assists in 19 appearances across all competitions this season from a left-sided attacking midfield role, the area of the pitch from which Insigne did so much damage in an Italy and Napoli jersey. His combination of grit and flair is the perfect embodiment of this team.
Quite how Napoli managed to sign Kvaratskhelia for as little as €10m without competition from Europe’s richest clubs is a bit of a mystery. Their recruitment team deserves a lot of credit.
Attack, attack, attack
Between September and October 2022, Napoli won a staggering 13 consecutive matches across all competitions, scoring 40 goals in that sequence. It’s a run that has made them difficult to ignore, and set them up for a serious tilt at the title. They’re also arguably one of the most entertaining teams across Europe.
What’s the closest Napoli have come to the title recently?
Overall, Napoli have finished 2nd in 3 of the last 7 campaigns so challenging near the top is nothing new for them. They had to settle for 2nd place to Juventus in 2017/18, despite amassing a superb 91 points. Juve collected 95 in that season. Napoli fell out of the Champions League places in 2019/20 (7th) and 2020/21 (5th) but a 3rd-place finish last term saw them take their rightful place back at the top table of European club football. Now, their realistic quest is to ascend the summit for the first time since 1990.
There’s never been a better time to be a Serie A fan
Napoli have scored 39 goals after 17 Serie A matches this season, making theirs the most prolific attack in the country. With just 13 goals conceded, their defence is the second-most miserly after Juve. The Old Lady have claimed an astounding 8 clean sheet league wins on the bounce to state their case as Napoli’s most credible challengers in this season’s Scudetto race, although both Milan clubs will have something to say about that. This could turn out to be the most thrilling Scudetto race of the millennium.
Napoli vs Juventus is next on the agenda and it should be a cracking contest between 2 of Europe’s in-form teams. Will the Friday 13th curse strike the leaders?
