Mercato Madness: Adel Taarabt seeks Napoli move

Remember Adel Taarabt's brief but eminently forgettable loan spell with AC Milan last season? Fourteen matches, four goals, lots of loafing about, several incredibly underwhelming performances. It was little wonder that Milan declined their option to buy him outright from English side Queens Park Rangers, and now after another half-season of injuries and clashing with manager Harry Redknapp, Taarabt looks to be on the move again.

Various teams have reportedly been interested to various degrees in the Moroccan international. The most amusing rumor so far, though, is one that Taarabt apparently wants to move to Napoli, and his agent is trying to make it happen. So the rumor goes, Taarabt is really really set on joining the partenopei, and thinks he can be a major part of the second half of Napoli's season.

Go ahead, take a minute to laugh. Get it all out. We'll wait. Ready now? Good.

Taarabt makes a degree of sense on the surface; he's versatile, capable of playing across the attacking midfield band, and he has significant physical talents that could help almost any team. The trouble with Taarabt, though, is that he's not actually very good. He's a very selfish player, and too often a lazy one, not making the runs or occupying the spaces needed to help his team out. And that's before getting to the fact that he isn't just a terrible defender, he simply doesn't bother to defend at all most of the time.

Then you add in that Taarabt is very injury prone, and then pile on all his clashes with coaches, managers, teammates, and media over the years, and you wind up with a very, very, very poor fit for Napoli. He can want the move all he likes, but Rafa Benitez and Riccardo Bigon are right to be skeptical about the idea, as they reportedly are. This is not a move that should happen in any way, shape, or form, and frankly, the rumor is only worthy of laughing at, no matter how much the media tries to play it up.

Besides, Napoli are already signing Manolo Gabbiadini, who's a better player, a better fit, and has a brighter future than Taarabt does. Why would they want a troublemaker on top of it?