Napoli, Conte's three ideas for the club's growth. Meanwhile, Neres stops

Naples, 11 February 2025 - This time there were no surprises or twists: theInter, although not without controversy, beats the Fiorentina al Meazza, redeeming it 0-3 cashed just a few days before at Franchi and sending a message remotely to Napoli, whose hopes from the couch this time are betrayed by the response on the pitch. The outcome of the match changes, the environmental context changes, the emotional inertia between the two contenders changes and, above all, the ranking also changes: Napoli still first, but now with just 1 point ahead of theInter, which in a few days went from having to take the possible knockout blow in the championship games to becoming almost the favourite for the same. In reality, the dialectical register of Antonio Conte, who just after having clearly confessed the Azzurri's dreams of glory, practically on the verge of the streak of 7 wins in a row, makes a U-turn in public bringing up the qualification for a continental competition, which was practically the designated objective in the summer. Perhaps a way to take the pressure off his team just when the stakes are rising or perhaps a dig at the club and a market, that of January, which has left everyone a little unhappy. The fact is that, in words, the Napoli comes out diminished by a five-day period that was very favourable on paper, during which Tale he also spoke out on another topic that risks having a significant impact on the continuation of this partnership: the growth of the company also, if not above all, outside the green rectangle of the pitch.

Napoli's critical issues for Conte

 The issue for the Salento coach had been burning even in his past atInter, but today it risks taking on an even more significant importance because there is an ambitious and long-term project involved. A project that, for Tale, cannot ignore some fundamental elements such as infrastructure, in particular the sports centre, the development of the youth sector and the modernisation of the Maradona: a trio, just to summarize, that is worth so much that it even surpasses the transfer market in the scale of priorities. Going against the common feeling of the average fan, in fact, the Azzurri coach has underlined the priority of a general restyling of the club over the purchase of players even with a crazy value, such as the 75 million collected from Paris Saint-Germain for the price tag Khvisha Kvaratskhelia. A far-sighted and also altruistic thought, because eventually between saying and doing there is an abyss made so also by the times of bureaucracy to the point that it is not certain that until the eventual placing of the first and the last stone Tale is still the coach of the Napoli. The dream of the current technical guide is to leave after his farewell a club that is perhaps more successful and with a richer list of honours but also capable of walking on its own two feet, increasing that turnover that from time to time appears in those latitudes (and not only). Before Tale other technicians have already passed by Fuorigrotta had highlighted this deep gap that exists between the Napoli and the other big names in Italian football. It starts with the lack of a stadium of their own and the approximately 100 million per year that this gap costs the Neapolitan club: in words Aurelio De Laurentiis has repeatedly 'solved' the problem, talking about the construction of a new stadium or the modernization of the Maradona, but everything remains a dead letter and so the same seventh seasonal sold out of the facility Fuorigrotta, the one reported in the match againstUdinese, does nothing but increase the regrets on a catchment area that could be even larger, especially in positive years like this one. Then there is the technical center, the one of Castel Volturno, whose lease will expire in 2026. And then? For some time now De Laurentiis is thinking of building a new structure, obviously owned, on a plot of land yet to be identified and it is possible that the matter will slip by at least another two years. Almost hand in hand with the headquarters is the youth sector, a tap that has been completely dry for years now and with the Spring relegated to the second league as an excellent emblem of the crisis of the entire blue movement. This negative vicious circle contributes to not generating wealth for the Napoli, practically almost incapable of producing talent at home to launch in the first team or resell to create capital gains. Or, perhaps, to overcome a period of emergency.

Neres stops

  It happens in fact that the aforementioned market at a low cost leaves a bit of creeping discontent in the square and probably in the coach himself, despite the attempts to correct the shot by trying to launch ideas for growth for the club that go beyond the player pool. And it happens that he temporarily withdraws from it David Neres, which had closed the match against theUdinese with a muscle strain: the relevant tests have revealed a distraction lesion of the semimembranosus of the left thigh that will keep the Brazilian out of action for a few games. As usual, the club has not committed itself on recovery times, but the certainty, just to be optimistic, is that the class of '97 will mark a visit in the very delicate match at home to Lazio, a non-random opponent for the Napoli, who lost both the first leg and the second leg Coppa Italia valid for the eighth finals. All with the breath of theInter now on the neck and with the very first cracks in the relationship between the square and Tale and between the latter and a club that still has to grow despite the flash of the championship won almost two years ago and the current leadership in the standings that leaves open the possibility of another triumph at the end of the year. Important results on the pitch that however, according to Tale and of those who embrace his thought, are still not enough to make the Napoli truly a great of Italian and international football.

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