Riccardo Bigon officially joins Hellas Verona, scouting staff follows

We knew this was coming for a few weeks now -- the rumors weren't exactly hard to find -- but in the wake of resigning from his post at Napoli, former partenopei sporting director Riccardo Bigon has moved on, taking the same job at Hellas Verona.

He won't be alone in forming a path between Napoli and Verona; joining Bigon will be his scouting staff, Maurizio Micheli, Marco Zunino and Leonardo Mantovani. They're still technically employed by Napoli for the moment, but when their contracts expire at the end of the month they'll sign on with Hellas Verona. Those four combined to bring a lot of good talent to Naples over the last five seasons, and their ability will be missed.

As we touched on last week, this move was pretty much expected. Most people in Bigon's position like to work with "their guys," so it's not surprising in any way that he would bring his own staff along. After all, incoming sporting director Crisitano Giuntoli is expected to bring in his guys as well, once his contract situation is sorted out at least.

To Bigon, Micheli, Zunino, and Mantovani, we can only offer thanks for what they've done in their time at Napoli. They've had some misses, sure, but so does every team. They've hit more often than not, and they've had some major successes along the way. They're leaving some big shoes to fill, and hopefully Giuntoli and company can rise to the challenge.