Napoli had already secured Gila and Gabriel Jesus before losing both

There is a story behind this transfer window that hurts more than a simple missed target: Napoli already had two players in hand who are now proving their worth just weeks into the season, centre-back Gila and forward Gabriel Jesus. These were not talks that stalled — they were deals Giovanni Manna had already closed, before having to walk away.

The same story, with an even heavier wage, applied to Romelu Lukaku: €11m gross let go for the same budget reasons. The Gabriel Jesus case may be the most painful of all. Massimiliano Allegri spent weeks waiting for a different kind of striker to Lorenzo Lucca and Rasmus Höjlund, while Manna already held exactly that profile in hand. The Brazilian ended up at Barcelona, where he has already scored in the Champions League — the competition in which Napoli, on the same night at the Maradona, were beaten by Arsenal without winning a single corner.

Why the austerity

The reason for this austerity has a precise name: UEFA's financial parameters, breached after two lavish transfer windows the club pursued in recent years. Those were two expensive windows, it should be said plainly, that did not always come with the right choices — and now this year's squad is paying the price, arriving in September with only Alessandro Badiashile and Costantino Favasuli as new additions, the latter making his Champions League debut against Arsenal itself.

Napoli's transfer balance is negative by around €47.5m, and criticism has followed. Dries Mertens has already said the window deserved "a few more additions", while agent Mario Giuffredi has publicly defended the club's and Allegri's choices. But hearing the names of the players let go — not missed targets, but deals already in hand — changes the picture: this is not the usual bar-room complaint, it is a regret with a first and last name.

Napoli sit twelfth with 3 points after three rounds and go into Sunday's game against Bologna on the back of three straight defeats, the last of them in the Champions League. The transfer window stays shut until 2 January: the next chance to fix things, if the club chooses to, only opens with the new year. Meanwhile, the club still has the Scott McTominay contract question open at home — his deal expires in 2027 and there is still no agreement in sight.