Auriemma questions Napoli's €430m spending as goals dry up

Raffaele Auriemma has taken aim at Napoli's transfer market in a blunt social media post laying out what he sees as the root problem behind this season's toothless attack. "After spending €430m over the two Conte years, does it seem normal that Napoli have scored so few goals so far in Serie A?" he asked. He did not name sporting director Giovanni Manna directly, but the target was clear.

The Giuntoli comparison

For Auriemma, "the original sin dates back to Giuntoli's departure" — a reference to Cristiano Giuntoli, the former sporting director who brought Victor Osimhen and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia to Napoli for a combined €60m. Napoli later sold both players for just over €70m each, the same fee, Auriemma notes, that Milan paid for Gonçalo Ramos.

The comparison continues with Romelu Lukaku, who arrived at Napoli "close to the end of his professional road", and with Højlund, signed for €50m last summer. For Auriemma, the Danish striker "is not the kind of forward who can make the difference on his own". His sharpest jab is reserved for Malen: bought by Roma for half of Højlund's price, he is now scoring at a rate of 1.5 goals a game.

The criticism lands at the lowest point of Napoli's season. After four rounds, Napoli sit 10th with six points; the narrow 1-0 win over Bologna — which followed three straight defeats to Como, Inter and Arsenal — remains the only bright spot in a difficult run. We reported earlier this week on the goal drought affecting Alisson Santos and Noa Lang; Auriemma's argument shifts that discussion from individual form to the recruitment choices made further up the chain, when two match-winners in Osimhen and Kvaratskhelia were replaced by less decisive options.

Until De Laurentiis brings in a top-level transfer chief, the club will keep spending too much on players who don't make the difference.

That warning to club president Aurelio De Laurentiis comes two and a half weeks after the summer window closed on 1 September with a net spend of around €47.5m.

Napoli travel to the Franchi on Sunday for matchday five, their first chance to answer back on the pitch. It will take a goal from an out-and-out striker — not just from midfielders, as has been the case so far — to start disproving the numbers Auriemma has laid out.