Complicated €11 million deal for Napoli to sign Allan nearing completion

It's starting to sound as though Allan will be a Napoli player very soon, with rumors indicating that the club's negotiations with Udinese are all but complete. It's still a fairly complex deal based on what's being reported right now, though perhaps somewhat less complicated than it was when rumored on Thursday.

Since there's several components to this deal, let's break them down point-by-point.

• Napoli would acquire Allan on a permanent transfer, with the 24 year old midfielder believed to be set to sign a four-year contract worth roughly €1.5 million per season, or around €28,000 per week. Those wages represent a healthy raise from what he made at Udinese, but not hugely significant for Napoli, so that's good from a financial perspective. Allan is expected to arrive in Naples on Monday or Tuesday for his medical.
• Udinese would receive €11 million from Napoli, down significantly from the "more than €16 million" they supposedly wanted when rumors of Napoli's interest first emerged several weeks ago.
• Udinese would also acquire Miguel Britos as a part exchange "trade" in the deal. They would then send Britos on loan to their partner club in England, Watford FC, helping bolster their defense as they prepare for their first Premier League season since 2007.
• While this is being reported as a separate deal, Udinese are also believed to be close to loaning Duvan Zapata for the next two years. We'll have more on that later.

So that's a very complex series of moves, but one well worth the effort to Napoli. Gokhan Inler had originally been believed to be heading to Watford in the same manner as Britos, but his name stopped being included in rumors early on Friday, indicating that he may wind up elsewhere, or even that Maurizio Sarri may have decided to give the veteran a shot in his midfield after all.

The takeaway: Napoli look set to add a very good midfielder to their squad, which is something they very much needed to do. They also managed to use a defender who wanted out and didn't have a ton of value to lower his transfer fee, and may have used a loan of a striker who desperately needs starting minutes to lower it more. There's no reason at all to dislike this move for Napoli -- assuming the final product looks like what's been reported.

Now go buy more players, please. Another midfielder or two, a right back, and a couple of central defenders would be lovely.