Chapter 62 The Return of the Seven Heroes

Just as everyone knew, Chen Hero and the others didn't stay in the reserve team for too long. A few days after the match against San Giovanni, they reappeared in the friendly against the German team Pfullendorf.

This also meant that the seven first-team main players who had been sent to the reserve team for fighting had returned.

Of course, this was the return that outsiders saw. In reality, their return was a few days earlier.

Almost the day after the match against San Giovanni, the group was summoned to Mazzarri's office again.

"I hope you fully realize your mistakes."

Maggio was the first to jump up and say, "We realize it! We fully realize it!"

He was afraid that Chen Hero and Cassano, the two idiots, would say something that would ruin everything for everyone, so he simply answered first.

Mazzarri turned his gaze to the other two.

Cassano and Chen Hero didn't say a word.

"Alright, starting today, you can return to the first team." Mazzarri didn't plan to continue dwelling on this issue.

The media weren't hyping it up anymore, so there was no need for him to continue like this. It was enough to give them a way out; the team's results were the most important thing…

Maggio cheered, and the others also smiled.

And just like that, they returned to the first team.

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While these seven people were in the reserve team reflecting on their mistakes, Napoli didn't stop their efforts to buy players. Their roster still needed reinforcements.

They had a very luxurious lineup on the offensive end, but their defense was still full of problems.

Last season, the team played with a three-defender formation, so they had accumulated a large number of center backs. However, the level of these center backs varied. Paolo Cannavaro was the team's captain and an undisputed starting center back. Among all the center backs, he had the highest level, the most experience, and was the most trusted by all the coaches. Whether it was Reja or Mazzarri, neither of them had ever thought about changing his position.

So, in Mazzarri's 433 formation, who would partner with him at center back in the four-defender formation?

Santacroce was extremely talented, but he was too young and... lacked height, only one meter eighty-one. As a center back, his aerial defense was naturally weak. He lacked experience, his technique was relatively rough, and his movements in defense were too aggressive, making it easy for opponents to trick him, or even create free kicks and penalties in dangerous areas...

In his first season at Napoli, he made a total of thirteen appearances and received six yellow cards. Last season, he had a "achievement" of receiving three yellow cards and two red cards in four appearances, and was a well-known "villain." However, such a fierce player on the field was just an extra when it came to fighting, which was really surprising…

Contini didn't have many opportunities to play last season, but it wasn't a small number either. Because Napoli played with three defenders, he could always get a lot of opportunities to play. However, his performance gave people a feeling that he was not up to the task.

Leandro Rinaudo transferred to Napoli last season, but his performance was very average. Although he was tall, he had nothing but good headers. His slow speed and proneness to injury made him almost a forgotten figure at Napoli. Chen Hero had seen him in the reserve team before.

Aronica was a center back that Mazzarri trusted very much. He was experienced and seemed very stable on the defensive line. If they really couldn't buy a suitable center back, using him and Paolo Cannavaro would be fine.

But coping with the domestic league in Italy with this set of center backs was okay, but it wouldn't work if they wanted to go to the European arena.

They had to continue to strengthen their strength.

His target was Andrea Ranocchia, a center back who currently played for the newly promoted Bari team but belonged to Genoa.

This rising star in Italian football's defense had attracted the attention of many teams, but he missed all of the second half of last season due to injury. This made many clubs that were very optimistic about him hesitate—if a center back always played half a season and lay in bed for half a season, that wouldn't work…

This player was indeed very talented, but his physical fitness…

Many clubs backed down, and those who hadn't backed down decided to observe for another season.

At this time, Napoli decisively made a move.

Bigon took the field and, after a fierce negotiation with Genoa, finally brought this rising star of Italian defense, known as the "Cannavaro successor" and the "Nesta successor," to the Stadio San Paolo for 13 million euros.

The club and the player signed a five-year contract, but the specific annual salary was not disclosed to the outside world.

Coach Mazzarri seemed very happy about his arrival.

"We have the main center back for the Italian national team for the next ten years!" He announced at the press conference, giving a very high evaluation.

Many media outlets also exclaimed that Napoli's signing of Ranocchia showed their ambition for this season.

"Ranocchia's transfer to Napoli shows that Napoli's transformation of their defense has begun. Mazzarri clearly understands that if you want to achieve something in the European arena, you have to rely on defense!"

"I'm increasingly interested in Napoli's performance in the new season. I want to see what kind of surprises this team will bring us!"

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After Mazzarri signed Ranocchia, Napoli had invested 48 million euros in the summer transfer market, which was a rare amount of transfer fee investment in Italian football.

But Napoli didn't stop there.

Subsequently, they bought the Argentine winger Jesus Datolo, known as the "counterfeit Messi," from Boca Juniors for 5 million euros, continuing to strengthen their attacking power in the frontcourt. Datolo was fast, and his dribbling was not as good as Sanchez and the departed Lavezzi, but his crosses were much better than those two. His arrival was clearly for Chen Hero.

In the frontcourt, Chen Hero was the team's attacking core. Whether he was shooting or creating opportunities for his teammates, he was an indispensable character.

He had only landed in Serie A last season, and he had won the league's top scorer award in half a season. This was achieved even after he wasted half a season. What would the result be if he went all out?

Mazzarri wanted to try it.

So this season, he unswervingly established Chen Hero as the attacking core.

Although Datolo was an Argentine player, no one was worried that he would create another Argentine gang in Napoli, because he was a newcomer, and he wasn't the type of person who liked to be a leader.

So this time, there was no need to worry that Napoli's dressing room would split again.

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Napoli's expansion didn't stop there. They were still continuing to recruit troops. This time, Bigon brought Luca Cigarini, who was called the "next Pirlo," from Atalanta for 9.5 million euros, an organizational core who played as a defensive midfielder.

In addition, the team bought Camilo Zuniga, the main right back of Siena last season, from Siena for a transfer fee of 7.5 million euros. This player's outstanding performance had even attracted the attention of Juventus. Like Maggio, he could play almost all positions on the right, and he would be a strong supplement to Maggio. Mazzarri would decide who to play based on who was in better condition.

In this way, Napoli had sufficient personnel reserves in the midfield, frontcourt, and backcourt.

Of course, it wasn't completely without weaknesses.

Napoli had never been able to find a suitable candidate for the left-back position. Currently, in the warm-up matches, Mazzarri had put Aronica in the left-back position.

In fact, he had his eye on Domenico Criscito, a young left-back who played for Genoa but was owned by Juventus, but helplessly, when he asked Juventus to buy him, Juventus said that they had no intention of selling Criscito.

Nevertheless, so far, the Napoli club had spent 70 million euros on buying players this summer, not counting the contract salaries offered to these players... It could be said that De Laurentiis had fulfilled his promise to Mazzarri—after the team entered the Champions League, he would invest everything regardless of the cost to make the team stronger.

At the same time, he proved one point to the whole of Italy—the second five-year plan formulated by this well-known loudmouth in Italian football was not a joke, he was serious!

After failing to acquire Criscito, Mazzarri announced that their summer signing work for this season was completely over.

"Yes, we will not buy any more players. What I want to say is that our transfer window is closed. I am very satisfied with the team's current lineup. Thank you to the generous boss Aurelio De Laurentiis, and thank you to Mr. Bigon for his hard work. I am very satisfied with the Napoli club. We have a very strong lineup, and I understand the fans' expectations for the team next season. But even the strongest giants have to come step by step from pre-season training… Yes, announcing the end of the transfer so early is to hope that the media will stop hyping up news that we are eyeing someone. What Napoli needs now is not those rumors, but to calm down and train. Ending the transfer cycle early is also conducive to the team concentrating, because they all know that they are in my plan."

Mazzarri said this in an interview with reporters after announcing the team's early end to the transfer cycle.

Before August, Napoli ended all transfer activities at lightning speed, spending heavily in the transfer market and signing the players on Mazzarri's list, and then announced the end of signing players and selling players.

Pre-season training, for them, only officially started at this time.

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ps, Napoli's new season signings are over, and the two-day burst is also over~

Although the burst is over, I still want to ask everyone for monthly tickets!

There are not many days left this month, so if you have any extra monthly tickets in your hands, smash them over!

The King of the Forbidden Zone still wants to rush forward on the monthly ticket list and push down a few more great authors, so please vote for monthly tickets!