Naples, sliding doors: via Caprile and in comes Scuffet. And Meret renews

Naples, 6 January 2025 - A clear market move or a wink to superstition? In the 2022-2023 season, which would have ended with a championship that was actually expected, perhaps even starting from the autumn, in January. Napoli he puts his hand to the goalkeepers' battery: a scenario that is about to repeat itself today, with Alex Meret still the only immovable totem and behind it the brawl.  

The Caprile-Scuffet connection with Cagliari

  At the time to say hello, direction Fiorentina and with practically no official appearances in blue, he was Salvatore Sirigu, ready to be replaced by Pierluigi Gollini, which came directly from the Viola but with the postage of the parent company Atalanta. Out went a very experienced goalkeeper, and perhaps not even physically fit, and in came a younger player who was ready when needed, almost as if to underline the ambitions of the team, even in the transfer market, which in fact, a few months later, would have sewn the tricolor on its chest. Today, history repeats itself, despite the fact that there are very different protagonists involved. The constant is called Cagliari, the team that will give and receive a goalkeeper from Napoli but in a plot that presents very different formulas. Simone scuffet takes the road to the Campania capital on a dry loan, while Elia caprile will land in Sardinia on loan with right of redemption set at 8 million: for the latter, therefore, reunion with is imminent Davide nicola, the coach who at the time of their common militancy at theEmpoli he was able to wean him and enhance him to the point of making him one of the most interesting goalkeepers in perspective. Evidently not for the Napoli and for Antonio Conte, who had spent honeyed words when the 2001 class was called onto the field due to the physical problems of his colleague. Or more simply, given that in the meantime the stakes of the season have risen beyond all expectations, in the headquarters of Castel Volturno the desire to rely on the so-called safe used prevailed. Therefore, the poles of Fuorigrotta in the next few months they will be protected by the tandem all in Friulian sauce (and school Udinese) composed of Meret e Scuffet, two almost contemporaries often compared and compared precisely because of the many points in common. Origin, (almost) age, technical characteristics and even some presumed character gaps: the comparisons between the next two goalkeepers available to Tale over the years there has been no shortage, with both good at knowing how to get back on track even in the less positive moments. Starting from the one who will continue to be the undisputed owner, Meret he 'saved' injuries and criticisms that often rained down on him from a demanding crowd that was not even won over by the feats he displayed in the year of the championship: revenge is coming in this season in which difficulties have not been lacking and many victories have borne the signature of the class of '97. A year more experienced, Scuffet he made his debut in big-time football even earlier, earning the label of 'child prodigy' who in football first gives a lot and then takes away just as much, if not more. Who knows how much and if the 28-year-old regretted, almost a decade ago now, having refused theAtletico Madrid to choose to continue one's maturation Udine, the parent company from which he would have freed himself after a number of loan spells. After his definitive farewell from the Friulian club, Scuffet live the experiences abroadApoel and CFR Cluj before moving on to Cagliari, where initially everything goes swimmingly: then some uncertainty or presumed uncertainty between the posts has paved the way for the occasional arrival of Allen Sherry, foreshadowing the imminent departure, which will in fact take place in the direction Napoli.

Meret's renewal

  Even after this formal step, the situation between the posts of Fuorigrotta It will not be completely resolved without another step, not yet official but, apparently, closer than ever: the renewal of Meret. Cold documents like expiry still speak of the 30 June 2025, a date that is fast approaching and which, in theory, would allow the Friulian to sign with another club on a free transfer in the next few weeks. The reality, it seems, is very different and this time without excessive bursts of optimism as has already happened in the past before several cold showers. The contract of Meret should be extended by a year, so with the 30 June 2026 as a deadline, but with an option in favor of the Napoli for a further extension until 30 June 2027. Perhaps not the ideal scenario to suggest the classic agreement that is worth a lifetime and a career, but what matters most now is that the parties should not separate for nothing, with the risk of ruining the atmosphere in the locker room in a season that is taking on very interesting connotations. Not only the duration of the relationship: the salary should also be strengthened. Meret, which should pass through 1,2 million net a 2,7 million net. A nice surge that seems to want to translate into money the parallel growth on the field of the Italian number 1, who in Tale he probably found the right coach to make that leap that was missing especially in terms of personality. Even if only for a semester, he is now called to the same step Scuffet, wanted to raise the level of the battery of goalkeepers despite the Napoli, from now until the end of the season, is only at stake in the championship. Here the superstition issue comes back into play, which is intertwined with the year of the championship and with the lucky relay between Sirigu e GolliniThe Azzurri try again by changing the protagonists: via Caprile, perhaps even forever despite the summer investiture and, when called upon, during the season, and inside Scuffet, with Meret still as a fixed point and this time, paradoxically, with even more certainties and popular consensus than the magical year of the tricolour.

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