One of the most convoluted transfer sagas involving a Polish footballer in recent years has concluded. After eight years, Piotr Zieliński is leaving SSC Napoli.
However, the end of this remarkable journey, crowned with a championship title, is not being celebrated with the highest honors, at least not by Aurelio De Laurentiis. The charismatic owner of the Italian champions has once again shown who holds the strings, and while it may not be in the broad interest of the Neapolitan club to focus on the Polish midfielder and attempt to rebuild the crisis-stricken team around him, in sports, we love romantic stories.
The story associated with Piotr Zieliński’s time in Naples was considered one for a long time. His eight-year stay beneath Mount Vesuvius, standing shoulder to shoulder with the greatest legends of the club in terms of appearances, and this summer, rejecting a lucrative and fabulous offer from Saudi Arabia, all suggested an unbreakable love.
No one would have thought back then that a few months later, the Polish representative would be cast aside and discarded in such a brutal manner. The transfer saga truly resembled a Brazilian telenovela, with new episodes unfolding almost daily.
And just when everything seemed to be heading towards a happy ending, Aurelio De Laurentiis intervened and outmaneuvered himself. When Zieliński was willing to forgo a significant portion of his emoluments just to stay in beloved Naples, the long-standing film producer wanted further cuts extending into the current season.
It was too much. The subsequent jabs at Zieliński’s fondness for the mist are particularly remembered.
Also, what exactly drove a wedge between him and the entourage of the Polish midfielder, because as far as I have been able to ascertain from the representative’s manager, I know that squabbles through the media are not in the interests of either him or Piotr. And I doubt that De Laurentiis himself would reveal all the cards.
Now we have another proof of this. And you might be upset with me, but purely footballing facts do not speak in favor of Piotr.
When Napoli was in crisis after their biggest success in 33 years, the Polish player was unable to signal his willingness to fight, and in many matches, he struggled to match the level of his teammates. The charismatic owner has proven his business acumen by leading Napoli to the top of Serie A, showing that he has a nose for running a business, even if it’s sometimes based on somewhat archaic principles.
I am not arguing that benching Zieliński, or even sending him to the stands, is justified, but what business would the charismatic owner have with focusing on a player who will bid farewell to Naples in four months and has not been convincing with his performance for some time? Zieliński must swallow a bitter pill.
He won’t be part of the headline clashes with Robert Lewandowski in the Champions League, but he certainly won’t be consigned to the dustbin of Napoli’s history. I am convinced that in a few weeks, the club’s fans from the south of Italy will give him a proper send-off, and he doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone anymore.
He has done so for at least the last four years, and what has happened will not erase the beautiful story that he first wrote at the Stadio San Paolo and now at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona. He will be welcomed with open arms to enjoy pizza and espresso in every corner of Naples for the rest of his days.
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