Napoli, market without bangs: it closes with Okafor, between doubts and perplexities

Naples, 4 February 2025 - In the evening of Monday 3 February the gong has sounded for a winter market session which for the Napoli It was unusually eventful. The crux of it all, there's no point in beating around the bush, was the farewell of Khvisha Kvaratskhelia, unexpected in terms of timing but in the air since the summer if not immediately after the championship. Aurelio De Laurentiis, notoriously reluctant to give up the best of his team, held out until he took command of the ship Antonio Conte, who has held the position of almost manager of the Neapolitan club since June, dictating the guidelines, and perhaps even something more, of the market itself. The feeling with the Georgian, on and off the pitch, probably never came about, just as negotiations for the renewal between the outside and the club never took off. In other times the partnership would perhaps have continued until the summer of inertia and mutual convenience, but not now that the Napoli is at stake for the championship and that everything that creates disturbance to the harmony of the dressing room must be eliminated. So kvaratskhelia goes to Paris Saint-Germain bringing as a dowry 75 million, but leaving a void in the squad that the same Tale he repeatedly stressed in press conferences. The flurry of names was not long in coming: the dream was Alexander Garnacho, the more or less desired and more or less close or in any case viable alternatives Karim adeyemi, Edon Zhegrova, Dan ndoye, Allan Saint-Maximin, Federico Chiesa e Mattia Zaccagni, in addition to other profiles only explored or perhaps only hinted at, but in the end the one who wears the blue is Noah okafor, an option that for many had the bittersweet taste of a fallback.

Okafor, doubts and perplexities

 The Swiss arrived right on the edge of the Milan with the formula of the onerous loan to 1,5 million, with right of redemption at 23,5 million: for many, also in light of the economic parameters of De Laurentiis, a figure so high that for the 2000 class it tacitly suggests just a semester in the shadow of Vesuvius to fill a numerical gap. In fact, on this point, that of keeping the number of players at his disposal intact, Tale it was clear, as was the company's response, which matched every exit with an entry. Then there is the other limit set by the Italian coach: the one related to quality. In this case, the verdicts will take time: only the continuation of the season, even more so when the contribution of the second lines will be needed, will tell if the Napoli came out of this session strengthened or weakened. Looking closely, the starting eleven had already been made for some time, with David Neres promoted to the left flank holder thanks to his own merits: only the reserve team needed to be tweaked, which in turn, with only the championship at stake, might not be decisive. Speaking of the most anticipated 'exchange', the technical characteristics of kvaratskhelia e Okay are so different that they do not lend themselves to easy comparisons. The prerogatives of the players change, the experience but also the expectations of the fans, which are currently rather low on the Swiss. And it is not necessarily true that, from the latter's perspective, the news is totally negative: especially when you have to live with the spectre of an icon like Fourth. The problems, in the limit, are others. The physical form of Okay It seems that it is not optimal at the moment, but the good news is that on the left the owner remains Neres: behind him, therefore, there is time to work and find the shine of the better days. The other good news for Tale and for its now crystallized hierarchies from now until the end of the season it is that the Swiss gives his best as a substitute: however the evidence remains that the Napoli in the January market, the one in which one notoriously hunts for certainties, he went for a player with a less than excellent pedigree and poor form.

The other departments

 Not only the new offensive winger and all the perplexities of the case: at the dawn of this session the Neapolitan club was also looking for a defender. At first glance everything suggested the arrival in the blue of Danilo, who instead chose to return home. Then came the unsuccessful assault on Pietro Comuzzo, armored by the Fiorentina to the sound of requests never lower than the 40 million. And in the end everything ended with nothing being done which, as a domino effect, also affected Rafa Marin, who saw his loan departure frozen at Villarreal. Probably, the excellent answers provided by Juan Jesus and the imminent return of Alessandro Good morning they will have changed priorities, postponing more substantial investments until the summer. The assistant between the posts has changed Alex Meret: from Elia caprile a Simone scuffet, for a relay race involving the Cagliari, as well as in midfield Philip Billing has replaced Michael Folorunsho, loaned to Fiorentina. Also Alessio zerbin he went to play elsewhere, to be precise at Venice, to continue to make those bones that in the meantime are becoming steel. For a young (but no longer very young) Italian tossed here and there, this time with the right of redemption set at 4 million, there is another one that lands at the Napoli: It is Luis Hasa, perhaps one of the most intriguing bets of a transfer market session that the league leaders experienced in silence after the glories of a summer marked by 150 million spent. This time the balance is almost zero with, indeed, approximately 24 million which could come from any redemptions of the loans of Caprile, Folorunsho and precisely Zerbin. In short, between objective difficulties, hesitations and conservative, almost risky choices, this time De Laurentiis close the purse strings and put some patches instead of giving away Tale a bang worthy of the championship fight. But the same Tale he has shown, with the current squad, that he can certainly stay in first place.

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