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Purchased:
- Defender Kalidou is purchased from Genk
- Attacker Michu is loaned from Swansea
- De Guzman is signed from Villareal
Sold:
- Ex-Viola Gamberini is sent to Chievo for an undisclosed amount
- Ex-Viola Behrami is sent to Hamburg of an undisclosed amount
- Fernandez is moving to Swansea for an undisclosed amount
- Vargas is set to move to QPR
On Going Rumors:
- Leiva from Liverpool
- Fellaini from Manchester United
Pre Season Results:
Napoli 1-2 PSG
Napoli 1-0 Barcelona
Napoli 2-0 Paok
Napoli 2-0 Feralpisalo
Napoli 1-1 Athletico Bilbao (Champions League Playoffs first leg)
Kirsten from Napoli's SB Nation blog "The Siren's Song" was interviewed and replied to Viola-Nation questiona about Napoli's Pre-Season:
Q1: What were your expectations going into this summer transfer window in terms of which positions needed filling? is signing Michu, Guzman and Kalidou enough?
I think most Napoli fans would have preferred even more players coming in, particularly if the team are going to fight for the scudetto, defend the Coppa Italia (sorry, Viola supporters) and hopefully challenge in Europe. There's not enough depth to the backline, particularly after we experienced so many injuries last season, and bringing in a ball-winning midfielder sure would've helped. Plus, Michu, for all his talents, is no vice-Higuain, and that could still cause problems.
Q2: Gamberini, Behrami and Fernandez are out of Napoli, How would/did you react to each sell.
Gamberini? Who's Gamberini? Seriously, though, he had two seasons in Naples and barely made an impression. It makes no difference that he's gone. Valon was always leaving after he and Gokhan Inler fell out, and while the Napoli midfield may not be ideal, it can cope with the loss of one of the Swiss. As for Federico Fernandez, well, that one concerns me. Miguel Britos is terrifying, yet Napoli sold Fernandez -- despite his vast improvement last season -- and kept Britos. I'm guessing it was because Fernandez was heading back to the bench after the arrival of Kalidou Koulibaly, but it sure would've been nice to have him around.
All that being said, though, at least we didn't lose an Edinson Cavani or an Ezequiel Lavezzi this season.
Q3: I have to ask this because i noticed most if not all Napoli sold players went away for an undisclosed fee. How do you explain not disclosing transfer amounts?
Well, there's no actual rule that says you need to publicly disclose the transfer fee -- unless you're, say, Roma, and are a publicly-traded company. I don't think there's a problem with it, particularly as everyone seems to know how much money a player's sale brought in anyway. Besides, Napoli are well within the rules on Financial Fair Play, and that's the real issue to have to deal wth.
Q4: Napoli pre season friendlies were all victories except against PSG, How was the performance and will there be any breakout young players this year from what you saw in those friendlies?
I'd say Kalidou Koulibaly qualifies as "young", since he's a 23-year-old defender. He's impressed plenty of fans with his solid presence in central defense, and he's also got a bit of versatility. Other than that, I'd say the friendlies were more about showcasing who shouldn't play -- Miguel Britos and Walter Gargano are two names that spring to mind. Yet for some reason, Rafa doesn't seem to agree.
Q5: How is the general feel in the siren's song and Napoli camp after the draw against bilbao which i personally find very lucky for the Spanish side?
Well, obviously we would've liked to prevent them from getting an away goal, but we're not totally screwed going into the second leg in Spain. We did get totally screwed by the draw, though, with the strongest non-seeded team, and having to play the second leg on the road, which no other seeded team must do. A little luck and Napoli can pull it off...