The fight will affect the Serie A title race.
On the move again
But the Neapolitans stalled as winter approached. Antonio Conte’s team lost to Atalanta and shared points with Inter – later in December they lost twice to Lazio (the Romans also knocked them out of the Cup). At that time, the Bergamos were on the rise – they took the lead in Serie A. It seemed that the fairy tale was quickly ending – after all, quite recently Naples was struggling with a crisis and losing stability . It is impossible to return to the championship race so quickly and seriously claim the title.
Certainly, Conte’s gang quickly made up for lost time. After the match against the Romans, the Neapolitans had six consecutive victories. We dealt with Udinese, Genoa, Venice, Fiorentina, Verona. And above all, last weekend, we took our revenge on Atalanta for the first round match.
The Bergamos themselves had slowed down by this stage, and Inter were dropping points against Bologna in the same period. All this allowed Naples to return to the top of the championship standings. January is already almost over, the tournament has entered the second round – and Naples is still in the lead.
Replacement of Khviche
One of the spokes in Napoli’s wheels could be the sale of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. The Georgian winger came to Spalletti’s team – Luciani included him in the team, Khvicha became the leader, and the Neapolitans took the Scudetto. And since then, the performer has established himself as one of the team’s star players.
This was true even in the dark times of Mazzarri and Calzone. With the arrival of Conte, the status of the winger did not change. At the same time, discontent began to grow that the role of a football player was not reflected in his salary. For six months of negotiations, the parties were no closer to an agreement – and Paris Saint-Germain took advantage of this. The Parisians intercept Khvicha and quickly organize his transfer. Napoli, of course, earned money from this, but in any case, the loss is noticeable. The club has drawn up a shortlist in search of an alternative – Alejandro Garnacho, Karim Adeyemi, Ndoye, Tel fell into the sphere of interest of the Neapolitans. Napoli have advanced in negotiations on the first two candidates. In Alejandro’s case, the obstacle is the demands
Манчестер Юнайтед – The Red Devils want to receive 65 million euros from the transfer, and a contract with the player has already been concluded. According to Adeyemi, the situation is the opposite: the clubs have managed to reach an agreement between themselves (the compensation should be 52.5 million euros). It was also noted that Conte would like to see Garnacho in the team. The Neapolitans are even considering lowering Osimhen’s price for United so as not to hinder Alejandro’s transfer. The forward’s transfer almost failed
Randal Kolo Muani from Juventus was considered a priority target for the winter transfer window.
Пари Сен-Жермен . The Frenchman did not get along well with the Parisians, although he was on fire at Eintracht – so the footballer himself was ready to change teams. Man United, Tottenham and, in fact, Juventus were ready to snap up the stagnant striker. As a result, Randall chose the “old lady”, all parties agreed on the terms of the agreement – a lease until the end of the current season without the right to purchase, the entire of the footballer’s salary will be paid by the Turinese. team (we are talking about 12 million euros).But when the loan was agreed and Kolo Muani arrived in Turin for a medical, a nuance emerged: a maximum of six players from the main squad can be loaned. The Parisians have just that, which is why the signing of the agreement with Juve was delayed. The problem was still resolved.
There are local victories, but the tournament situation is not encouraging
The people of Turin have abnormally often misfires. Several caveats can be made. For example, Thiago Motta has been at the club for less than a year and needs time to rebuild. Or that there are certain successes in the Bianconeri’s game – and they confirm the team’s progress. Juve recently beat Milan 2:0. Or a victory over Man City by the same score in the first half of December.
And yet, overall, this does not help the situation. In Serie A, the Turin team is desperately behind the top three. The championship race is between Napoli, Inter and Atalanta, while the Bianconeri are 6-13 points behind them. And in
Liga чемпионов Playoff participation was not guaranteed until the seventh round. Spalletti knew how to approach the people of Turin
The statistics in recent years between these teams are clearly not on Juventus’ side. In the previous eight meetings, victory went to the “old lady” only once – and the Neapolitans won five times. This happened during the period of confrontation between Spalletti and Allegri.
By the way, Naples has evened the balance of power at least a little over a longer period. In the last 20 matches, nine victories have been won by the Neapolitans and eight by the Turin team. The teams drew three times.
Forecast
Soccer. ru:At this point the obvious favorite is Napoli. Conte was probably angry after the failures with Atalanta and Inter, because misses in important matches with direct competitors are not typical for him. In the second round, he aims not to repeat previous mistakes in order to return the champion title to the Neapolitans. In addition, the atmosphere at home will be prohibitive and the “old lady” is too unstable. Napoli will win – and if they are lucky, they will increase their lead over their pursuers. Napoli – Juventus
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