Mercato Madness: Napoli closing on two midfield signings

As the end of the transfer window barrels closer, Napoli are finally getting close to a pair of deals to help bolster their midfield.

The first is with Marouane Fellaini, the long-linked Manchester United midfielder for whom the potential signing has officially reached Saga status. While the two clubs try to hash out a deal on an official level, Fellaini himself has expressed an interest in the deal, even should Napoli fall in the Champions League playoffs over the next two weeks. As it had previously been thought that Fellaini would only be willing to join if Napoli were in the Champions League group stage, this is a nice bit of progress and an indicator as to just how badly he wants out of Manchester.

The other is Jonathan De Guzman, who's agents were approached by Napoli earlier in the week. They've made significant progress towards a deal in the last few days, and De Guzman is supposedly interested in coming to Italy. They're discussing both a loan and a straight transfer with Villarreal, keeping both options open depending on how the rest of the window shakes out as they approach the finalization of the deal.

The question in De Guzman's case is whether or not his move is dependent on Fellaini's. He's not the same type of player, being much more similar to Jorginho in how he plays, and it has seemed for some time now that Napoli would be going after two midfielders, not just one. Napoli could certainly use both to bolster their depth and versatile rotation options, so hopefully Fellaini signing won't nix De Guzman arriving.

There are also reports that Napoli continue to look at Pedro Obiang, but it doesn't sound like any potential deal is remotely close to as far along as the Fellaini and De Guzman negotiations. As smart a buy as Obiang might be at the right price, it appears he's seen as a "break glass in case of emergency" transfer option by the partenopei.