Napoli send draft deal for Qualiano land as building start slips to February

Napoli have sent the draft contract for the land at Qualiano to the sellers' lawyers, who are now going through the details. If no problems come up, the preliminary purchase agreement could be signed as soon as next week.

The site finally has a precise name. It is Pozzonuovo-Cardinale, in the municipality of Qualiano, off via Ripuaria. The club chose it after dozens of site visits in the area around Naples. The negotiation involves three landowners and 13-14 hectares in total. This is the ground on which Napoli's home for the coming decades is meant to be built.

What the project includes

This is more than a training ground. The plans include facilities for the first team and the youth sides, with 10 pitches, accommodation, gyms and a mini-stadium of about 2,000 seats. Most importantly, they include the club's headquarters, with offices for the technical staff, the sporting department and employees.

For the first time, the team, the academy and the club's staff would all be in the same place. For a club that celebrated its centenary this summer, that matters.

The timetable is getting longer, though, and that needs saying. Until Thursday the aim was to open the building site by January. The talk now is of January 2027 or, more likely, February. The works are expected to take around three to four months. Nor is signing the preliminary agreement the finish line. The purchase is what sets the planning process in motion, and only after that can anyone talk about bulldozers.

The question nobody is answering

Our concern has nothing to do with Qualiano itself. Napoli are preparing to buy land and design their own headquarters at the same time as the ownership is the subject of sale rumours. Matt Rizzetta's consortium has lowered its figure to €1.3bn. In Geneva, De Laurentiis has met the Aponte family of MSC twice. And the president keeps saying Napoli are not for sale.

An owned training complex adds to the club's value, whoever is running it in the future. For a supporter that is good news either way. It is still fair to ask whether Qualiano is an investment by an owner who intends to stay, or something that makes the club a more attractive asset for an owner who intends to sell. The club has said nothing on this.

Then there is the stadium. For the new 70,000-seat ground on the former Q8 site at San Giovanni a Teduccio, there is an asking price of at least €20m for about 25 hectares. Q8, however, first wants preliminary approval from the city authorities, and nobody at Palazzo San Giacomo (Naples city hall) has seen the project yet. Of the two projects, Qualiano is the further along, and that deserves credit. Here, at least, there is a draft in the lawyers' hands.

On Sunday 1 November at 20:45 CET (19:45 UK, 14:45 ET), the team play Juventus at the Allianz Stadium with the chance to move above them. Both sides have 14 points. Meanwhile, the club waits for a reply from the three landowners' lawyers. If it comes, Qualiano will stop being a plan next week and become a signed preliminary agreement.