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Napoli Sign Toni Doblas

The void left by the injury to Rafael Cabral has been filled by Spanish 'keeper Toni Doblas.

This is the only picture we have that's not *just* of Doblas' back.
This is the only picture we have that's not *just* of Doblas' back.
Jasper Juinen

Napoli were left with a huge hole in their squad after Rafael Cabral went down with a torn ACL. With Pepe Reina missing several stretches of the season with various injuries, Napoli's backup goalkeeper has been vitally important, and the Brazilian put in some tremendous performances when called on. Napoli have been scrambling to find a replacement who's out of contract since the unfortunate diagnosis was made, and now it sounds like they've found their man.

Toni Doblas, 33, has been tabbed to finish out the season on Napoli's bench. The unheralded Napoli netminder was most recently with Azerbaijani side Khazar, where he made just ten appearances before being released in August. He was last seen shipping six goals in one half in a Europa League qualifier to Israeli side Maccabi Haifa.

Doblas spent the earlier days in his career in Spain, where he made 85 appearances in La Liga and 79 in Liga Adelante over eight seasons with three different clubs. He's nothing special, but as long as Reina can stay healthy, he doesn't need to be. A more "known" name like Tim Wiese, as was rumored, might have been more confidence inspiring in a scenario where Reina goes down again, but at least we now know what Napoli would have to work with.

Hopefully Doblas is never needed and all of his wages are collected from the bench, but at least he should inspire more confidence if called upon than Roberto Colombo.