Napoli have been the architects of their downfall in the past but they have a chance to change their luck

Siddhant Lazar

BySiddhant Lazar, SportsCafe Editor

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There’s something about Napoli because when they are at their best, they are great but when it goes bad, it’s downright terrible. Their fall from grace after EL Diego left was an implosion of incredible propositions and this season looked like it might be worse, until Gennaro Gattuso stepped in.

If you take away El Diego Maradona’s spell at Napoli and everything else he achieved during that incredible seven years in Naples, then Napoli amount to nothing more than your average club. Your average mid-table and occasionally relegated club whose name always seems to be a little less than a forethought in your brain. That’s despite the incredible support it garners at the Stadio San Paolo because that’s the sheer impact Diego Maradona had on Naples and Napoli.

He lifted them after years and years of mediocrity, the club had finished 12, 10, 4, 3 and 11 in the seasons before he arrived, and sent them into the stratosphere. He walked in, won them five trophies including their only two Scudetti and a UEFA Cup before leaving them just as dramatically as he arrived. He left disillusioned, paranoid that the Italian football federation and Napoli themselves had something to do with that and after they went through what many may call a crisis.

Nearly thirty years on, and exactly the same thing is taking place expect this time Napoli are not a forethought in anyone’s mind. They walked into this season as genuine contenders, as they have been for the last six odd years, to take away Juventus’ crown and more importantly, they are no longer a one-man team. It’s no longer the lone superstar who puts the club on his shoulders and carries them out but now, it’s more of a team filled with superstars potential done with the club.

That has changed the dynamic of the team but it’s also why everyone outside Naples has taken immense joy in their suffering this season. Inter Milan for once are thriving, AC Milan are still struggling and Juventus are flying like they always do. But Napoli, for once since their return to the Serie A are struggling to put their right foot forward. The mutiny and all the drama that followed has changed things but this has been brewing for a long time.

The world outside the dressing room may never know exactly what’s going on inside but what little the world has seen so far has been scary and paints a troublesome picture. Not the words any Napoli fan ever wants to hear but after watching their 2017/18 title slip away this team had regressed. Regressed to the point where they were out of contention for Europe, struggling to play any form of football at all but at the same time barely keeping their head above the water.

That was until Gennaro Gattuso stepped in and the task-master has transformed the club after an initial adaptation spell. The enforced break thanks to the coronavirus helped his cause immensely as the team managed to get together under his leadership and storm to the Coppa Italia. Not exactly a superstar performance along the way but Napoli did just enough to beat Inter Milan and then Juventus with both happening post the restart.

Add that to the 13 game run Napoli are on and hope has found it’s way back to Naples despite the underlying problem. That just happens to be the fact that this is still a team that’s unhappy and now disillusioned at Napoli with the potential futures of many in doubt. Dries Mertens, Lorenzo Insigne and a few others might be convinced over their futures at Napoli but little can be said about the rest with Kalidou Koulibaly, Allan, Fabian Ruiz, Piotr Zielinski and Hirving Lozano all on the fence.

Even if Gattuso somehow manages to get this side into a Champions League place, they could still lose a large portion of their core and that’s where the problem with Gattuso emerges. The Italian is a brilliant man manager known for his grit, tenacity and incredible work-ethic even as a player which has translated into his managerial career. But he is not a tactical genius like Napoli’s previous managers which will make the transition harder for Naples.

Because no tactic is going to make up for losing some of the best players in Italy, let alone the world. Even if the old guard doesn’t leave then as this season has shown rather nicely, they’ve struggled to maintain a passing enthusiasm for the game which does mean moving them on makes the most sense. Napoli needs to transition into the next generation of their superstars and it’s a task that better managers at better clubs have all struggled to do before imploding.

Mauricio Pochettino is a key player in that example with Sir Alex Ferguson at the other end of the spectrum but Napoli have always been towards the Pochettino end rather than the Ferguson end. They’ve struggled with the immense task of moving on from one generation to the next in the past and losing arguably one of the best defenders in the world will hurt them, no matter who they bring in to replace him.

Becoming a good team takes time, effort and money which Napoli have slowly become thanks to a solid financial model and a manager who worked miracles with little to nothing helping him do that. But evolving from good to great is a transition that few teams achieve or can sustain for long periods of time. It takes money, it takes risky business and more importantly it’s not a long-term solution although this summer might just be their best summer yet.

Even with a global crisis affecting football like never before in the modern age, Napoli should make enough money to fund a new team or at-least the bones of a new team and that could do the trick. Because for better or for worse, the Serie A is changing into something different and with the league itself in transition, it bodes well for the team from Naples. The question, however, is can this team from Naples once again find their way back to glory again? Or are they more than content waiting for another thirty something years for a mercurial manager or player to help transform them for the better again before going through the whole cycle all over again?

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