Mercato Madness: Napoli Moving Hard To Secure Michu Transfer From Swansea City

According to varying reports across both Italian and English media, Napoli are working hard to secure the services of Swansea City attacker Michu. The Spaniard burst on to the scene in England two years ago with a huge debut campaign for the Welsh side, but injuries kept him from finding his form last year.

Now, with the arrival of Bafetembi Gomis on a free transfer, Michu has apparently been rendered surplus in the eyes of Garry Monk, and Napoli have swooped in to relieve them of a high-quality spare part. Reports conflict as to whether or not he's had a medical already (the English and Spanish medias say yes, Gianluca di Marzio says not yet but Napoli has asked for basic information ahead of one), but it's sounding more and more like a deal is nearing completeion.

The particular details of the deal are up in the air; given Michu's poor season, Napoli would rather sign him on a loan with an option to buy. It's a sensible protection just in case things don't work out for one reason or another. Swansea would naturally rather go straight to a sale rather than risk him having a second straight disappointing season and coming back on to their books as deadweight.

Michu's fit in to the Napoli squad is fairly obvious: he's a good backup and different tactical option for Gonzalo Higuain (and/or backup plan in case he leaves, though Napoli should aim higher for a replacement if it comes to that). As a bonus, he also provides a better reserve for Marek Hamsik than Napoli have had since... well, they've never really had a good reserve for Hamsik.

He can create, he can finish, he can even press a little when Napoli are off the ball; if he can get healthy and in form, Michu is a gorgeous fit for Napoli.This is a move that makes a lot of sense on a lot of levels. Buying low on a good player is always a worthy gamble to take, especially one that fits the squad well from both tactical and technical perspectives. There's not a lot of low-risk, high-reward moves that football clubs can make at this level, but this is definitely one of them.