How beautiful and sweet this week was in Naples. Not just for the temperatures, which always hover around a good twenty degrees. But also and above all thanks to a ranking that fans have taken a liking to seeing and reviewing these days. It must be said that the last time they saw their team up there was in 2023, at the end of a breathtaking season crowned with a third scudetto historical. So you might as well enjoy it, right? Especially since in the event of success against Como on Friday (6:30 p.m.), at the opening of the 7th day of Serie A, Antonio Conte’s team would go on to a sixth match without defeat (including four victories) and would be four points ahead on Juventus Turin.
While Neapolitan fans are already starting to dream big after a catastrophic 2023-24 season (10th and no qualification for Europe for the first time since 2009-10), Antonio Conte, who arrived as a savior this summer, urges them to keep your feet on the ground.
“This first place is unexpected, we must manage it by continuing to work seriously, by progressing in our state of mind, our tactics“, hammered the former Italian coach. To continue this great dynamic, made possible, also, thanks to an affordable schedule, the latter can count on Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. A real revelation of the 2022-2023 season (12 goals, 13 assists assists in 34 matches), a slight disappointment in the next one (11 goals and 8 assists in 34 matches, nonetheless), the Georgian international is back in form With three goals and two assists in six league matches, he seems to be returning to his old standards, which was not won after the turbulence of the summer.
A turbulent summer, then calm returned
Last June, Fourth and his entourage were indeed heading into a clash with Naples. With a clear desire: to join PSG. First there were the comments of Mamuka Jugeli, his agent, on Georgian television. “I don’t want people to think he wants to stay in Napleshe declared. We want to leave, but we are waiting for the end of the Euro so as not to distract Khvicha. The priority is a transfer to a team that plays in the Champions League.“Then, just to add a good layer, his father Badri Kvaratskhelia declared:”I don’t want him to stay at Napoli, where there were three coaches last season. It’s difficult to play in such a situation.”
A strong position. And above all public. Despite all this, the Georgian international had tried as best he could to isolate himself during the Euro, so as not to be distracted for his first major tournament. His goal and his great performance during the historic victory against Portugal (2-0) will remain his greatest feat of arms in the competition, during which Napoli tried to calm things down by sending a delegation to Germany, venue of the competition, at the end of June. Which served to reestablish contact and dialogue, first of all. Then convince the player to stay, then.
It must be said that Antonio Conte, newly appointed technician, had vetoed the possible departure of his star. Once considered, his departure suddenly became complicated. Behind the scenes, PSG never gave up, backed by a contractual agreement with the player’s entourage. But Naples resisted without ever giving anything away, regardless of whether the amount of the various Parisian offers climbed to 100 million euros according to the transalpine press. In France, it was rather estimated that Kvara was valued at 60 million euros by the capital club. Where is the truth? Probably in the middle. In the end, the Neapolitan pressure ended up paying and his transfer took off. Definitely.
The player who creates the most scoring chances in Serie A
Candidate for the second time for the player of the month trophy since the start of the season, the only player to achieve it, the one who will celebrate his 23rd birthday next December has managed to forget all this bickering to focus on the field. More serene, and while negotiations for his contract extension are well underway, Kvaratskhelia is now focused on his third Neapolitan season. Fully re-motivated, like all his teammates, by the one who generally knows how to press where needed: Antonio Conte.
“I see him very concernedwelcomed the Neapolitan coach. I want to see all my players involved in this way. Even if they’re pissed at the ref, at least that means they care about things.” For former Inter Milan coach Andrea Stramaccioni, also formerly at Udinese and now a consultant at DAZN, Kvara is “returned to the heart of the game“. “He is the player who benefited the most from Conte’s arrival, he is back in the center of the village“, he explained on Sunday after Napoli’s victory against Monza.
A statistic also illustrates his point: the Georgian is currently the player who creates the most scoring chances in Serie A. At European level, we find him in seventh place in the five major championships, as revealed by the CIES. “He is now the player at the center of the project“, recalled the daily The Morning this week, since his friend Victor Osimhen has packed his bags for Galatasaray. And what does it matter if he still has difficulty digesting, sometimes, the fact of being replaced during a match, like last Sunday with a quarter of an hour to go. “It makes me happy. This means he is present and experiencing the match“, tempered Conte on Wednesday at a press conference. Certainly nothing could disrupt this beautiful Neapolitan week.
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