END OF AN ERA

Michael Nardi

Napoli is a club that’s been through it all over the years. From the lows of near bankruptcy, to spells in the lower divisions, and then the highs of nearly winning the Scudetto in incredible fashion; the club finds itself in a new spot once again.

It has been a summer in which the club lost its three main pillars- all in the same transfer window- leaving huge gaps to fill. Club captain and Napoli-born Lorenzo Insigne departed to Toronto to explore a new pathway in his career.

The talented Dries Mertens looks to be leaving on a free transfer, and world-class defender Kalidou Koulibaly was sold to Chelsea for 42 million Pounds. This not only put Napoli in a challenging position to look to improve, but it signals the end of an era; better known as the Sarri Ball era.

Sarri Ball or Sarrismo is the unique style of play of manager Maurizio Sarri which was made famous during his spell at Napoli. He molded a team that played entertaining football with one of the lowest wage bills among the top sides in Serie A.

With quick vertical possession-based football, the likes of Mertens and Insigne became world-class talents and gave Napoli fans something to dream of. Even the likes of Pep Guardiola were marveling over Sarri’s style and his vision of football.

What made it even more impressive was that this Napoli side was not blessed with superstars, but rather players that fit the manager’s style and improved every year. Jorginho was purchased from Hellas Verona, Mertens from PSV, and Koulibaly from Genk; they all played crucial roles despite how little was known about them initially.

However, what haunts this Napoli team is how close they came to winning the Scudetto that season. After beating Juventus 1-0 in Turin and closing the gap on 1st place to just one point, a disastrous match followed a week later. Falling 3-0 to Fiorentina made the gap 4 points with only a few games to go, it was too much for Sarri’s men.

Finally, the dagger of that season was manager Sarri departing for Chelsea and bringing Jorginho with him to London. Napoli have never come too close to the heights of that season and certainly have not replicated the football that was on display.

Juventus capitalized and Napoli was left to wonder what could have been that season, they are one of the sides that will still be remembered even without the accolades to back it up.