Napoli - Serie A's Surprise Package

Napoli - Serie A's Surprise Package

          Napoli, formed in 1926, are one of Italy's top football teams at present. But that hasn't always been the case. In the last ten years they've been like Arsenal, perennial fourth place finishers. Juventus, AC Milan and Inter Milan have been the top sides and Napoli have been somewhere in the chasing pack with Roma, Udinese, Fiorentina and Lazio. This year is different and it has been coming for a while. 

          The surprising factor in there rise is that they've kept hold of most of their main players. They lost Higuain to Juventus for £80m+ and that is good business for an ageing striker, they also lost Cavani to moneybags Paris Saint Germain and they couldn't have done much about that. Lets look at who they've managed to keep though.

Jorginho - 

          When people talk about a pass master, they usually refer to Xavi and his ability to make around 100 passes per game. But Jorginho is the modern Xavi. The Italian set the record for the most complete passes in a game when he made 180 successful passes against Cagliari last season. In his time in Naples his average pass completion has never been under 89 per game. Madness.

          His average pass completion for the season is 105 per game. He's won 81% of his tackles and won 43% of his aerial duels despite being only 180cm tall. The little midfielder has six goal involvements despite his deeper role in the Napoli midfield.

Dries Mertens - 

          Now then, last season Dries Mertens scored 33 goals in all competitions. When a striker does that he's usually one of the most wanted in Europe, but there's no interest in Mertens. This season he has 15 in goals and 6 assists so is well on his way to matching last season's tally. He's efficient in front of goal as well, with 52% of his shots on target and a ratio of one goal every 137 minutes.

          This isn't all he brings to the game though. His link up play enables other players to join the attcak. He has a 74% pass completion rate which has brought about his 6 assists and his defensive numbers are high as well. Winning 78% of his tackles.

Kalidou Koulibaly

         The big Senegalese centre back has been linked with Chelsea in every transfer window for years without a deal ever happening. His defensive numbers show you why. 76% tackle success, wins 58% of his aerial duels as well. He's made 79 clearances, 30 interceptions and blocked ten shots so far this season. Not only that, but his average fouls conceded per game is 1.

          His distribution is astounding as well, the nearly 2m tall defender has made 1972 passes so far this season, with a 91% completion rate, averaging 86 passes per game. He uses his aerial abilities in attack as well as in defence, half of his four goals this season have been headed.

          Napoli have conceded just 15 goals in the league, the joint best with Juventus, and with players like Koulibaly in the defence it's easy to see.

          Napoli are a force to be reckoned with. Players like Insigne, Zielinski, Hamsik, Callejon and Milik still to be brought up. Maurizio Sarri has built himself a squad of worthy Champions and a squad that could go far into the European competitions in years to come. Not many of the players are below 30, and provided they don't get picked up they will do well.

Until next time though,

Craig.