re: 2013 Summer Transfer Thread

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I posted this a few weeks ago and still stand by it for the most part:

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I'd say his value is ~£25m. He's a good player, but I don't consider him world class. His best attribute is either his athleticism or his ability to find the net on late runs. He isn't great on the ball, his first touch has always disappointed me and he isn't too technical. He is strong though.

Regardless, he scores goals. But rarely are they pretty. He's a fantastic poacher at times though, an important trait.

All goals from the 12/13 Serie A season



Now that I think about it a bit more I would probably put his value in between £30 and £35m.

He undoubtedly has scored some beautiful goals, but there are also a ton of scrappy ones to go along with the 5 or 6 PKs he scored in league play last season (in the video).

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I don't disagree with the £30 and £35m valuation at all. The point of the massive buyout was to show Napoli fans/owner gratitude and it was clearly set so that a PSG, Chelsea or whoever would have to overpay Napoli to get him.

One thing I would note about the difference in the videos for 2012-13 you posted and the ones I found from the season before was that most teams in Serie A seemed to figure out that for how explosive Napoli was in winning possession and quick strike counters (with Mazzarri's insistence on athletic ball winning mids) they had a ton of trouble breaking down a dense defense. Roma under Zeman may be the only the team who still came out guns a blazin' and Cavani shot us up like the Waco Kid.

That Cavani adjusted from scoring 20 yard scorchers off the volley on a full sprint to muscling around in the box and still putting up almost equal numbers can be seen as a credit to his versatility.

Hamsik, who may be one of the most underrated and entertaining players in all football, is really the one who tended to not adjust as well to breaking down numbers behind the ball.