Davide Astori medical set for Sunday

Napoli have all but signed Davide Astori from Cagliari, with the defender joining the club at their retreat in Dimaro ahead of a medical scheduled for Sunday.

The medical is the last necessary step to finalizing the transfer, with the clubs having agreed on their terms and Astori agreeing to a four-year contract with Napoli. Now with Astori having been spotted in Dimaro and the medical scheduled, we should have official word sometime Sunday that the deal has been completed -- barring anything strange happening during his examination.

It's not a wildly popular signing, given Astori's struggles over the last two years, but there's a couple silver linings to be had here. As long as Astori isn't relied on as a starter, you can do a lot worse for your third centerback -- just look at Miguel Britos. Napoli play a lot of matches, so upgrading the depth in the heart of defense is a must, though it may have been nice to upgrade that depth by buying a better starter and shuffling one of the existing starters to the bench. Alas.

What's the other silver lining you ask? Simple: if Napoli had to buy a disappointing Italian international central defender, at least they didn't buy Andrea Ranocchia.