Antonio Conte's Napoli revival at risk of becoming a nightmare: What is going wrong?
Napoli fans will be desperate to put the disaster that was the 2024/25 season behind them, and appointing Antonio Conte seemed like a great way to do just that. Why then, with less than a week until their season opener, is the situation looking so dire?
The Partenopei produced the worst title defence in Serie A history when they finished tenth and a massive 41 points away from Inter at the summit. Aurelio De Laurentiis' misguided appointments of Rudi Garcia, Walter Mazzari and then Francesco Calzona resulted in a farce of a campaign.
Bringing Conte out of his short spell away from the game meant that at least nobody could claim De Laurentiis hadn't shown ambition with his coaching appointment. His problem now, is that the coach won't settle for a slow and underwhelming summer transfer window.
The Lukaku-Osimhen conundrum
The main problem that Napoli face right now is that they have a world-class striker, Victor Osimhen, who has an extremely uncertain future and a coach that is pining for a different striker.
There has been interest in Osimhen from Chelsea and other clubs for a very long time and De Laurentiis is determined not to lose the Nigerian for a reduced fee, sticking to the €120m release clause.
In order to bring Lukaku in from Chelsea, though, money must be raised both for the transfer fee and the salary of the Belgian.
A recent report from Gianluca Di Marzio claimed that Conte intends to leave the club if he is not given a striker, a midfielder and a winger within 48 hours, with Christian Stellini poised to step in. That time has passed and he is still at the club, but we all know Conte is capable of such things and it shows the gravity of the situation.
Chelsea could be looking elsewhere, and maybe Conte will too
Osimhen has been left out entirely of the last four friendly matches which means that if he can't be sold, they have a prized asset who has not prepared for the season properly and has a diminishing value.
Chelsea are now pushing ahead in their efforts to sign Samu Omorodion from Atletico Madrid in a €50m deal, which would presumably see the end of any chance that the Premier League side will sign Osimhen. They do genuinely need to shift Lukaku, though, as he is still the highest earner in the squad and is not remotely part of the plans for the new season.
Therefore, Napoli could decide to raise the funds in the aggregate with the sales of players like Giovanni Simeone and Gianluca Gaetano. The only proper transfer fee the Azzurri have received this summer was the €7m that Stade Rennes paid for Leo Ostigard. They have paid €47m for Alessandro Buongiorno and Rafa Marin, two defenders that do address a problem in the squad.
Two centre-backs do not fix a squad that was 41 points off of the top last season and Conte, presuming promises about recruitment were made, has the right to feel he is being under-equipped. Billy Gilmour looks likely to arrive from Brighton as a midfield alternative, and it is good news that Khvicha Kvaratskhelia appears to be settled and staying.
Napoli face Modena in the Coppa Italia on August 10, before opening their Serie A campaign away at Verona on August 18. If Conte feels he does not have the right sort of squad, he is going to make that very clear both behind closed doors, and to the press.