Pepe Reina Dilemma + other Napoli signings
Last week, Liverpool had announced that Spanish goalkeeper; Pepe Reina was going to be joining the Italian giants, Napoli for a season long loan.
Now for me it goes two ways, Napoli needed a replacement for the departing De Sanctis, who recently signed for Roma and they had also signed Brazilian goalkeeper Rafael, to provide some healthy competition between the two, smart move Rafa Benitez. For Liverpool they have Simon Mignolet, who they signed ealier this summer transfer window, now for me this is a great buy for them, but who do they have after that? Brad Jones... No disrespect to the keeper but I’d be a bit worried if he is the only second keeper that your team have. But if that’s the way Liverpool want to deal with things, then business is business.
However I was very surprised from what I read from an open letter to Liverpool fans from Pepe Reina today, as he revealed that the Merseyside club had not actually told him nor consulted him about accepting a loan bid from Napoli, here’s what he had to say about the move (extract from www.pepereina25.com) “.But if I have one regret, it is the way that I am leaving. It is only natural that I would be disappointed that the Liverpool management agreed to loan me to Napoli without telling me first, I thought that I deserved better than that even though I understand that difficult decisions have to be taken in football. A lot has been made about me informing the club that if an offer came in from Barcelona that I would have liked them to consider it. But I had also spoken to the club about the possibility of extending my contract if the offer was not made. I told the manager that I wanted to play for Liverpool and that Barcelona would only become an option for me if the opportunity arrived, like the rumours said it would, as it would be a chance for me to go back home. When it didn’t come I was happy to fight for my place so I was surprised that Liverpool decided it was in the club´s interests to send me to Napoli instead”
Liverpool has made some ludicrous purchases in the past 2-3 years, most notably Andy Carroll £35 million, but this? That’s out of line, that’s disrespectful to Reina, his family and Napoli as well. I mean the player has got to know where he’ll be at in the next season.
Moving swiftly away from the problems of Liverpool, Napoli havce made some pretty smart signings this summer, such as centre back Raul Albiol, centre forward Jose Callejon and most recently Argentine international Gonzalo Higuain( no hard feelings mate). All great signings: all from Real Madrid. These players are all true quality, the weird thing about it is that they were all rejects. I’m sure they will cope however, there is not much difference between Italian and Spanish football, except maybe it is more tactical in Italy. Napoli have done themselves proud this summer with these new signings, will they miss Cavani? They have done well enough in the window to replace and I’m sure Benitez will make sure that they won’t miss him. Whether they will be a challenge for Juventus and AC Milan in the fight for the Scudetto will be a different question. Only time will tell on that.
Now for me it goes two ways, Napoli needed a replacement for the departing De Sanctis, who recently signed for Roma and they had also signed Brazilian goalkeeper Rafael, to provide some healthy competition between the two, smart move Rafa Benitez. For Liverpool they have Simon Mignolet, who they signed ealier this summer transfer window, now for me this is a great buy for them, but who do they have after that? Brad Jones... No disrespect to the keeper but I’d be a bit worried if he is the only second keeper that your team have. But if that’s the way Liverpool want to deal with things, then business is business.
However I was very surprised from what I read from an open letter to Liverpool fans from Pepe Reina today, as he revealed that the Merseyside club had not actually told him nor consulted him about accepting a loan bid from Napoli, here’s what he had to say about the move (extract from www.pepereina25.com) “.But if I have one regret, it is the way that I am leaving. It is only natural that I would be disappointed that the Liverpool management agreed to loan me to Napoli without telling me first, I thought that I deserved better than that even though I understand that difficult decisions have to be taken in football. A lot has been made about me informing the club that if an offer came in from Barcelona that I would have liked them to consider it. But I had also spoken to the club about the possibility of extending my contract if the offer was not made. I told the manager that I wanted to play for Liverpool and that Barcelona would only become an option for me if the opportunity arrived, like the rumours said it would, as it would be a chance for me to go back home. When it didn’t come I was happy to fight for my place so I was surprised that Liverpool decided it was in the club´s interests to send me to Napoli instead”
Liverpool has made some ludicrous purchases in the past 2-3 years, most notably Andy Carroll £35 million, but this? That’s out of line, that’s disrespectful to Reina, his family and Napoli as well. I mean the player has got to know where he’ll be at in the next season.
Moving swiftly away from the problems of Liverpool, Napoli havce made some pretty smart signings this summer, such as centre back Raul Albiol, centre forward Jose Callejon and most recently Argentine international Gonzalo Higuain( no hard feelings mate). All great signings: all from Real Madrid. These players are all true quality, the weird thing about it is that they were all rejects. I’m sure they will cope however, there is not much difference between Italian and Spanish football, except maybe it is more tactical in Italy. Napoli have done themselves proud this summer with these new signings, will they miss Cavani? They have done well enough in the window to replace and I’m sure Benitez will make sure that they won’t miss him. Whether they will be a challenge for Juventus and AC Milan in the fight for the Scudetto will be a different question. Only time will tell on that.
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