Chapter 249: Public Enemy of Italy

After both sides reached an agreement, the transfer procedures were completed swiftly.

Gervinho officially left Naples for Arsenal with a transfer fee of 15 million euros.

Before his departure, the Ivorian made a special trip back to Naples to meet Gao Shen. He expressed his gratitude for the careful guidance he'd received over the past year, and Gao Shen, in return, encouraged him to continue pushing forward at Arsenal.

When it comes to developing young players, there are many risks. Besides uncontrollable factors like injuries, adolescence, and personality, another decisive factor is how a player is developed and positioned.

For instance, Wenger is known for letting young players try out multiple positions.

The advantage of this approach is that it allows the coach to figure out the best position for the player, maximizing their strengths.

However, the downside is that players can sometimes lose their way amidst constant experimentation.

Gao Shen was very clear about his own strength as a coach. The reason he was able to train players quickly and effectively was that he knew beforehand what direction the players should develop in. He trained them accordingly and used them in line with their potential.

This allowed the players to thrive in their roles and progress rapidly.

Therefore, Gao Shen told Gervinho that even after joining Arsenal, he should continue down the path that had been laid out for him. Gao Shen believed firmly that Gervinho had the potential to become one of the top wingers in Europe and a key player at Arsenal.

Of course, Gao Shen had already laid the foundation. If Gervinho didn't succeed at Arsenal, it wouldn't be his fault; it would simply mean that Wenger's reputation for developing young talent was overblown.

Although Gervinho had only excelled in Serie B, the fact that Arsenal was willing to spend 15 million euros on him sent shockwaves through Italian football. Many teams that had been eyeing Napoli's players began to reconsider their valuations.

Gervinho's market value was around 8 million euros, but Napoli managed to sell him for 15 million. What about the others? If Gervinho went for that price, would it be acceptable to offer any less than 8 million for anyone else?

However, the downside to this was that Napoli's prospects for the new season were immediately thrown into doubt. Many in the media believed that selling Gervinho would severely weaken Napoli's attack in the upcoming season.

The Turin Sports Daily even concluded that the sale of Gervinho proved that Napoli's real goal was not the championship but simply avoiding relegation.

"This lines up with their status as a newly-promoted Serie B side!"

Meanwhile, the fact that Napoli had brought in Antonio Valencia from Villarreal for a transfer fee of just 1 million euros barely caused a stir.

Sure, Villarreal was a solid La Liga team, but who was Antonio Valencia?

From Ecuador, taking up a valuable foreign player slot, and he was supposed to fill the void left by Gervinho? Could he really take over Gervinho's role?

More importantly, Napoli had also offloaded a number of veterans, including Cupi, Savini, Grava, Vitale, and Dalla Bona, which had further lowered the average age of the first team compared to last season.

Many questioned whether Gao Shen really intended to rely on a squad of mostly twenty-somethings to challenge for the Serie A title.

Most observers, however, believed that Napoli's true goal was survival in Serie A, not winning it.

Bookmakers even adjusted the odds for Napoli's performance. After Gervinho's sale, Napoli's projected finish dropped to tenth in Serie A.

For a newly-promoted team, a mid-table finish in Serie A wasn't bad at all.

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After returning to Naples from Madrid, Gao Shen kept a low profile and stayed out of the limelight.

The coaching staff had also returned, and everyone was focused on preparing for the new season, refining tactics, and developing a solid strategy.

Each league has its own set of unspoken rules regarding its schedule, and Serie A was no exception.

For example, in La Liga, the El Clasico is always scheduled first, usually in late November or December, around the tenth or eleventh round of the season, when the title race is heating up. The return fixture comes at a crucial time during the run-in for the title, ensuring maximum interest and excitement.

If the game is scheduled too early, the stakes aren't clear yet, and it loses attention. If it's too late, the title might already be decided, robbing it of suspense.

The same principle applies to Serie A.

The Milan derby, clashes between the Milan clubs and Juventus, or their matches against Roma, these fixtures are major events and are given special attention in the scheduling.

The league thrives on its ups and downs.

If too many big games are scheduled too closely together, it creates problems, so they're generally spaced out to maximize drama. They rarely serve as the season finale.

As a newly-promoted side, Napoli attracted considerable attention, but they didn't command the same priority as Milan, Roma, or Juventus. This led to a more challenging fixture list.

Napoli's seventh, eighth, and ninth rounds featured away games against Inter Milan and Roma, followed by a home match against Juventus. Three tough matches in a row, with two away from home.

To make matters worse, between the Inter and Roma matches, there was a two-week break for international fixtures.

The second half of the season followed a similar pattern.

It was a brutal schedule.

If the three matches had been grouped together without the interruption of international fixtures, it would've been easier. The coaching staff could have used training to prepare the team for that stretch and ensured they were in peak form.

Alternatively, the games could have been spaced out more, allowing the team to focus on each one individually.

But as it stood, with three tough matches in a row and a two-week international break between them, it was far from ideal. The long break disrupted the team's momentum.

Don't believe it? Just take a look at the schedules for teams like AC Milan, Inter Milan, or Juventus. Their big games are spaced out by at least two rounds.

This scheduling, supposedly to enhance the league's entertainment value, was clearly designed to benefit the bigger teams.

"This schedule is crucial!" Gao Shen frowned as he reviewed the upcoming fixtures for the new Serie A season.

He wasn't the only one. The entire coaching staff felt uneasy when they saw the layout of the fixtures.

Particularly the October stretch, with two weeks off for international matches, made the first half of the season look daunting.

"Three crucial games, two away from home if we drop points, we'll be out of the title race before we're even halfway through," Gao Shen remarked.

It seemed like the schedule had been designed to make things more difficult for Naples.

Could this have something to do with Gao Shen's status as Italy's public enemy?

During international breaks, players would leave to represent their national teams, and there was no way to stop them. But Naples would have to be at full strength for those three critical matches.

That's nine points at stake!

"The winter break is longer this season, and the Coppa Italia schedule is more reasonable. We have a 21-day break, so we can arrange for a round of intensive physical training," Buenaventura suggested.

Last season, the short winter break was mainly due to the Coppa Italia.

For teams that didn't compete in the Coppa Italia, their break was much longer.

But this season, Serie A would resume on January 14, and Naples' opponent in that first match would be AC Milan. They needed to be fully prepared, with no room for error.

Everyone knew that the first game of the season, and the first game after the winter break, were always the hardest to play because teams were out of rhythm.

"The schedule is set, whether it favors us or not. We need to adapt and plan our strategy accordingly," Gao Shen said, pointing to the fixture list.

In any championship pursuit, winning big matches is crucial.

Some people believe that consistently beating the weaker teams is enough to win a title, and while that's partly true, it's not the whole story.

Because while you're beating weaker teams, so is your competition.

Can Naples consistently beat the likes of Inter Milan?

In his previous life, Gao Shen had seen people wonder why Real Madrid under Ancelotti and Zidane, despite winning four Champions League titles in five years, struggled to win La Liga.

The answer was simple just look at their head-to-head record with Barcelona.

If you extracted the results of those El Clasico matches, it was clear that they were the games that ultimately decided the title.

That's just in terms of points. Strong matchups also have a huge impact on a team's morale, confidence, and overall momentum.

If you're serious about winning the league, you have to win the big games.

Of course, in recent years, there's been an exception to this rule. A team that performed well in big games but couldn't win the title because they struggled against weaker opposition.

That team was Benitez's Liverpool.

So, any team aiming to win the league needs to do more than just beat weaker sides, they also need to perform in the big games.

In simple terms, they need to pick up points consistently.

At all times, against any opponent, securing three points is the priority.

Gao Shen had seen firsthand the strength of Serie A teams last season, and he was confident in Napoli's abilities. But the team needed to perform consistently and produce results.

As for the big games, they would test the team's overall strength and squad depth.

All of this would need to be drilled into the team during summer training camp.

Most importantly, the right side of the team needed to be strengthened.

Integrating Lichtsteiner into the squad was crucial.

Gao Shen still vividly remembered the 3-0 loss from last season, it was a painful reminder that couldn't be ignored.