Eye for Five

The 2025/26 season preparation is upon us, with Napoli looking to win back to back Scudetti and three titles in the last four years. In anticipation of a busy season, including a return to the UEFA Champions League, Antonio Conte and club management have been busy preparing to improve the squad with quality signings.  The Azzurri have already secured the signatures of Manchester City legend and one of the best midfielders of the modern era, Kevin De Bruyne, on a free transfer, as well as the highly-rated Empoli centre back Luca Marinucci for €10 million.

The summer ritiri (retreats) are a great opportunity to assess new signings, players returning from loan spells at other clubs, and youth players being developed at the Primavera level. The 2025 ritiri will be especially exciting with starting-quality signings joining an established core of Scudetto winners. Following a shocking title defense, the departures of Victor Osimhen and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, and a season-opening 3-0 defeat to Hellas Verona, it’s remarkable that the Partenopei were able to secure their fourth Scudetto in club history. The team lacked depth, despite being very active last summer as well, acquiring Alessandro Buongiorno, David Neres, Scott ‘McFratm’ McTominay and Romelu Lukaku. Arguably, the most important acquisition last season was Antonio Conte and, as we soon learned, with Conte at the helm, anything is possible. Retaining the likes of Amir Rrahmani, Stanislav Lobotka, Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa and possiblly even Giacomo Raspadori, Napoli are building on very solid foundations. The expectation is that they remain at the top of the table this season.

In addition to winning the league, which must remain a target, Napoli could have enough quality in depth to make a serious run in the Champions League and/or Coppa Italia as well. Obviously, there’s plenty of time before the Azzurri play their first game (and even more time before the Summer mercato ends), but Napoli’s early, thoughtful and aggressive attack of the market in a professional and promising way should have all supporters excited for the season to begin.

Author

By Daniel Del Grosso

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