Milan win proves that Hamsik could be surplus to requirements at Napoli
There’s a problem, however: this could be a very bad thing for Marek Hamsik, the club legend who wanted to leave gracefully this summer, but who was persuaded by Ancelotti to stay.
The Italian’s plan? To use Marekiaro as a deep-lying midfielder. Yet on Saturday, Hamsik looked off the boil, and replacing him with Dries Mertens to switch to a 4-2-3-1 from Sarri’s original 4-3-3 made the difference. With the Belgian as the playmaker behind the striker and Arkadiusz Milik as the striker playing between the lines, Napoli were able to terrify the Rossoneri’s defence.
If you thought that Amadou Diawara was the key, you’d be wrong: it was Piotr Zielinski, who recovered 11 balls - more even than Allan - and played to a very high level. The Neapolitan press now believe that the Chelsea and Liverpool target is going to be the man in midfield for the Azzurri… leaving Hamsik in a tough bind.
While it is a stretch to claim that this new experiment with Hamsik has failed, the situation isn’t looking very good for the Slovakian, who also has the €30 million Fabian Ruiz rivalling him, too.
Giancarlo Padovan, @gia_pad , adapted by @EdoDalmonte