Touted as one of the most exciting teams on the continent this season, Napoli have been attracting interest from all over Europe for their players in recent weeks, but will they manage to keep their stars beyond the summer?
With the likes of Victor Osimhen, Kvicha Kvaratskhelia and Kim Min-Jae on the books of the Partenopei, Napoli’s recent recruitment has been the envy of a number of clubs across Europe.
According to recent calculations carried out by Corriere dello Sport, Luciano Spalletti and his team have helped to double the financial value of Napoli’s playing squad.
As well as the arrivals of Kim and Kvaratskhelia for bargain prices in the summer, Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa’s loan was made permanent, whilst Giacomo Raspadori also arrived on loan with the obligation to buy in the summer of 2023.
On top of that list, Spalletti has overseen significant improvements in players he already had at his disposal.
Stanislav Lobotka is expected to fetch somewhere in the region of €70m if he were allowed to move on in the coming months, according to Corriere dello Sport.
Despite renewed rumours that a number of Premier League clubs, particularly Manchester United, are circling for the much sought-after signature of Osimhen, Chairman Aurelio De Laurentiis is not overly concerned about losing his players.
“I had predicted we would have a great season. When you have the same players for a long time, they tend to lose motivation,” he told TNT Mexico after Napoli’s 2-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League.
“These new players have proved to be reliable. The thing that I like is that this side goes beyond single players. We’ve been in Europe for 14 years and I think we are the only one in Italy and it was nice to find players like Edinson Cavani, Ezequiel Lavezzi, and Gonzalo Higuain.”
“The fact that we now have Osimhen and Kvaratskhelia, Kim and other players in midfield means this team will last in time.”
Napoli have a particularly good record when it comes to letting players go.
Whilst keeping hold of their talents is almost always the objective when the time comes, Napoli tend to receive significant fees when selling their star players.
Gonzalo Higuain currently holds the title for Napoli’s club record sale from when he joined Juventus for €90m in 2016 and only because the Old Lady paid the striker’s release clause.
Edinson Cavani’s sale to Paris Saint-Germain in 2013 raised €64.5m, whilst Chelsea forked out €57m for the services of Jorginho in 2018.
Kalidou Koulibaly is perhaps the finest example of Napoli’s sales strategy.
Despite strong interest in seemingly every transfer window, The Azzurri got eight full seasons out of the Senegalese defender before finally being let go to Chelsea for €40m at the age of 31.
Manchester United in particular had been in talks with the Partenopei for Koulibaly over the last few years but never managed to strike an agreement with ADL and despite estimates that Osimhen and Kvaratskhelia could be worth a combined €300m, luring them away from the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona will not be as easy as many seem to think.
In the words of De Laurentiis: “I am very good at making contracts, so when they come to me, they are blocked, so keeping them here won’t be difficult. However, never say never. Sometimes there are offers you can’t refuse, so you never know.“