Ghoulam is done?

It's rare that a Napoli signing sneaks through without Aurelio De Laurentiis promptly tweeting a photo of himself, lurking slightly sinisterly over the shoulder of the new player, who is gripping a pen and smiling, exuding whiffs of desperation and a faint air of wanting to escape. But, according to Di Marzio at least, it appears the deal to land Faouzi Ghoulam is all but done.

According to Italy's transfer guru, Napoli secured the left back's signature sometime during the night, and are just waiting for the documents to be finalized by Saint-Étienne. It's said that Ghoulam's deal will be worth about €5m, which is not out of the realm of reasonableness for a 22-year-old fullback who's a regular for his Ligue 1 side and has four caps for Algeria. And has the redeeming feature of not being Pablo Armero.

We'll be keeping an eye on ADL's twitter account to make sure this deal has really been finalized. Until then, cross fingers - a left-back is certainly what Napoli needed most this January.

Ghoulam coming in paves the way for Armero to begin a "new adventure" with West Ham. And not a tear was shed by the partenopei faithful.

More from The Siren's Song

Follow @SirenSongNapoli Follow @SBNationSoccer

• Winter Transfer Window 2014 Deadline Day Preview
• Official: Henrique Signs
• Mercato Madness: Sassuolo want Paolo?
• Mercato Madness: More On The Verge?
• Napoli 1, Lazio 0: Coppa Progress