The Japan Times - With Kvaratskhelia sale, Napoli turn page on historic Scudetto triumph

Georgian wing wizard Kvaratskhelia became the darling of Naples almost as soon as he began his incredible debut season, for a club which had begun an eventually glorious campaign in turmoil and against a backdrop of massive fan protests.

Arriving as a bargain buy from Dinamo Batumi, few fans in Europe had even heard of Kvaratskhelia before he made his debut on a roasting hot August day at Verona in 2022.

They had spent a large chunk of the summer leading up to that season blasting owner Aurelio De Laurentiis for the departures of fan favourites Lorenzo Insigne, Dries Mertens and Kalidou Koulibaly.

Kvaratskhelia and the rest of Napoli's signings that pre-season were considered insufficient to build on a title bid which had collapsed in dramatic fashion the previous April.

But all that changed once they caught a glimpse of him gliding across the Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi pitch, where he scored and set up Piotr Zielinski with a neat first-time pass.

Kvaratskhelia struck up a symphonic strike partnership with Victor Osimhen, and he was even bestowed with the nickname "Kvaradona" in honour of his bewitching dribbling and eye for goal.

The comparisons with Diego Maradona continued as he drove Napoli towards their first league title since the Argentine icon's heyday, scoring 14 goals and setting up 17 more in all competitions.

The hope was that he could become the new symbol of an era of dominance for southern Italy's biggest club, but the departure of coach Luciano Spalletti almost immediately after the Scudetto was won was the first crack in that facade.

- Painless exit? -

Soon Kvaratskhelia and other key players began eyeing the exit door, with Koulibaly's central defensive replacement Kim Min-jae leaving for Bayern Munich after just one season in Naples and Osimhen clearly angling for a big-money move to the English Premier League.

The following season's title defence was even worse than 1949/50 when Torino lost their place as Italy's top club following the Superga air disaster which killed the entire team.

Three managers later and Antonio Conte is now in charge of a rebuild at Napoli, a project which has failed to convince Kvaratskhelia even though they once again lead the pack in Italy's top flight.

Conte said that he had no interest in keeping "chained up a player who doesn't want to stay" and in truth his departure is less painful than it might otherwise have been.

It's been clear for some time that the 23-year-old is not another Maradona figure as he rarely speaks in public, and the protracted, failed negotiations for the renewal of a contract which, had he stayed, would have expired in 2027 have left a bad taste in the mouth.

Fans have already seen Napoli fail to get a big fee for Osimhen, who was ignominiously loaned to Galatasaray last September, and the expected transfer fee in the region of a reported 75 million euros ($77m) arriving from PSG will help bring in new players to boost their team's latest title bid.

New arrivals like Scott McTominay and winger David Neres have taken to Naples like ducks to water and the form of Neres during Kvaratskhelia's absence with a knee injury has suggested that he might even be better suited to Conte's playing style.

Nevertheless Napoli and Serie A have lost a player who even in the midst of last season's epic meltdown managed to score 11 goals and provide nine assists, and his exit brings the curtain down on Italy's most romantic title triumph since the days of Maradona.

K.Nakajima--JT