SSC Napoli’s Serie A Success

There have been quite a few surprise packages this season in Italy, but no club has quite exceeded expectations as Napoli.

SSC Napoli declared bankruptcy only four years ago and were demoted by FIGC to play in Serie C1. To secure football in the city with perhaps Italy’s most passionate supporters, film producer Aurelio Di Laurentiis bought the club for 30 million, laying out a five-year plan to bring Napoli back to the European stage.

The film producer brought in Udinese’s sporting director, Pierpaolo Marino, who had a past with the Naples club, along with Edoardo Reja to coach the team.

As opposed to Roman Abramovich, Aurelio Di Laurentiis combined putting in a moderate amount of money to get the club financially stabilized and buying relatively unknown players for reasonable price tags.

Di Laurentiis' sensible, long-term approach meant Reja enjoyed the job security his predecessors, who only lasted a season each, did not benefit from.

Two seasons ago Napoli earned promotion back to Italy’s top flight along with Juventus and Genoa. With the talent finding abilities of Marino, who brought in the likes of Hamsik and Lavezzi, the team united into a harmonized group where working for the team is the top priority.

The former Udinese sporting director has, in other words, been hugely successful in Napoli’s signings.

Not only did they qualify for Europa, but the way the “newcomers” played football was remarkable. They challenged the clubs in Italy’s highest rank without as much as a backward glance. In their first year back, the Azzurri defeated Juventus, Inter, Milan and Fiorentina.

Di Laurentiis had managed to see out his plan in four years when Napoli finished in eighth place and earned themselves a place in the Intertoto Cup third round.

Ahead of the current campaign, Napoli brought in some new faces in Maggio and Denis,  who have had direct impacts on the team and earned themselves starting shirts.

This season Napoli has proven that last year’s good finish was hardly a fluke, and despite the second year usually being trickier, the Partenopei’s are sitting proudly on fifth place in the top division.

With their home form at the Stadio San Paolo being absolutely devastating with the supporters acting like the 12th player, the Azzurri have already defeated both Fiorentina and Juventus. However, the team has more difficulty in establishing good form on their away trips this season.

Key players such as Marek Hamsik, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Fabiano Santacroce have blossomed from talent to quality players, and with their ages ranging from 21 to 23, Di Laurentiis’ long term plan looks solid, as long as the club manages to hold onto the players.

Just as anticipated with the January transfer window being just days away, there are rumors circulating about the Partenopei’s biggest stars. Laurentiis will however have none of it and has blasted the media on several occasions, as he refuses to sell any of their key players by adding sky high price tags.

Only two points are separating Napoli from a Champions League spot and the top four in Serie A. Should they continue like this, Reja’s men are more than likely to land a place in Europe for next season. The only question is in which tournament, the UEFA Cup or the Champions League.

Serie C1 to Serie A’s top flight in less than five years...this is only the beginning for Napoli.