Gonzalo Higuain's request to Aurelio De Laurentiis: "Now complete the squad so we can win the Scudetto"

One of the last to arrive in pre-season training after participating in the World Cup final, Gonzalo Higuain has returned to training with Napoli after sitting in the crowd with Camilo Zuniga for the PAOK friendly on Saturday. With him came Mariano Andujar, Napoli's new backup goalkeeper, and the last man missing is Federico Fernandez, who is due to return tomorrow.

Pipita was sighted heading for the dressing room both at half time and after the match in the 2-0 win, and after the match he spoke with club President Aurelio De Laurentiis. After admiring the speed and fire in the squad that he saw, Higuain reportedly had a request for De Laurentiis: "Now complete the squad so we can win the Scudetto."

Well, OK then.

It's a pretty reasonable request, really. Napoli have bought two players so far this summer, but there are other needs yet to be filled. Another attacker (preferably a versatile wide forward/striker), a couple of midfielders (a ball-winner/holding mid and someone who can back up Hamsik and Jorginho would be nice), and a defender or two would all be very nice to see come in to Naples this summer.

One of those needs might be close to getting filled, but the others have only had occasional vague rumors attached to them. An attacker in particular has been quite elusive; the club keeps making noncomittal noises about keeping Edu Vargas, which is a nice start, but if they do move him on they haven't really been linked to a player of the needed profile since Andre Ayew, way back before the World Cup started.

Midfielders have been incredibly hard to secure this summer as well; at least two deals have fallen apart at the last minute for various reasons, and another deal seems interminably hung up in negotiations that just never seemed to go anywhere. And since the arrival of Kalidou Koulibaly (who admittedly looked much more immediately useful than expected against PAOK), no defenders have been linked to Napoli other than Daniel Agger, and no one actually knows if he wants to leave Liverpool this summer or not.

It's been a good summer so far, and Napoli have themselves a very good squad. But if they want to make a real push for the Scudetto, they need to do more. If they want to make a real push in the Champions League, they need to do more. They need to get better, and by getting better they can become a deeper squad as well.