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Napoli are back in the Neapolitan Christmas crib

Napoli have enjoyed an impressive start to the Serie A season, and we look at just who might be the next face to appear on the famous neopolitan cribs as a result.

The other day, miniature reproductions of Napoli’s talented striker, Lorenzo Insigne, appeared in some of the famous Christmas cribs hawked around by neapolitan street sellers. Anywhere else, this might not mean much but in Naples, it means a lot.

When you start appearing in the crib or “presepe”, then you know you have made it. Just to give you the idea, it is worth pointing out that the only previous Napoli player to regularly feature in the crib scenes was the legendary Diego Armando Maradona.

In the crib scene, Insigne has four rum babàs, a particular neapolitan delicacy, in his hand.

The point is that last Sunday, Napoli humiliated old rivals AC Milan with a 4-0 drubbing that not only put Insigne figures onto the street stalls but which also prompted the intriguing thought that in this most unpredictable of Italian seasons, Napoli are going to be major players in the Serie A title battle. They are now fifth in the table, six points behind surprise leaders Fiorentina.

After an indifferent seasonal start which saw them lose to Sassuolo and draw with Sampdoria and Empoli in their opening three games, all the signs suggest that Napoli have finally got their act together. Two successive 5-0 wins in mid-September against Bruges in the Europa League and against Lazio in Serie A indicated that things were clearly improving.

However, it is the fact that in their last two outings, Napoli have beaten reigning champions Juventus 2-1 and now AC Milan 4-0 that has sounded the tam-tams. Were he still around, old Dean Martin would probably be singing about a result “in old Napoli that hits your eye like a big pizza pie…that’s amore”.

Dulcis in fonde, the best thing about this potential Napoli revival is that the man who is now at the helm, 56-year-old coach Maurizio Sarri, is himself a neapolitan, a product of the tough, industrialised suburb of Bagnoli. If Sarri grew up in modest working class surrounds, so too his football career has seen him work his way up from the bottom.

Twenty-five years ago, he left his job as a bank clerk to go coach “Stia”, a side from the fifth division of Italian amateur football. After that he coached international household names like Faellese, Cavriglia, Antella and Valdema. No, we imagined that you have never heard of them.

Sarri’s slow, slow climb up the greasy pole saw him get to the top, namely Serie A, only last season with Empoli, a team with which he had won promotion.

Sarri might have taken a long time to get there, coaching 18 different clubs along the way, but it immediately became apparent that he had learned a lot on his journey. His Empoli, despite obvious economic limitations , played some very good football, so much so that they comfortably survived in Serie A, eventually finishing eight points clear of relegation.

On the record as saying that coaching is a job “I would have done for free”, Sarri currently earns approx €800,000 per annum with Napoli. By comparison, Roberto Mancini earns €4million at Inter and Massimiliano Allegri earns €3.5 million at Juventus, but if Napoli keep on performing that wage packet may get fatter. For the time being, however, Sarri is keeping his feet very firmly on the ground.

He told Gazzetta Dello Sport: “To talk about the title at this point is simply an obscenity. Three weeks ago, everybody was criticising this team, saying we would end up in mid-division…Those criticisms were exaggerated then just as all the current (scudetto) enthusiasm is exaggerated now…”

Some of his colleagues, however, do not hide their enthusiasm. Ottavio Bianchi, the man who won Napoli’s first ever historic title back in 1987 (the other title win came in 1990, again inspired by Maradona), says: “Napoli have done well bringing in just a couple of players to an already well-established team. Sarri has put the right men into the right places. At the moment, Napoli are the strongest team in the land, let’s hope they can keep it up…”

Some indication of where we are with Napoli will come when Serie A resumes after the international break. On that day, Napoli are at home to Fiorentina, the current Serie A leaders. If our suspicions are right, Napoli may well be able to put a spanner in the Fiorentina works. If that is the case, stand by for more Napoli figures appearing on the christmas cribs.