Naples, the assault on Gila is ready to secure the defense

Sooner or later we will have to start: but the summer of 2026 is similar to many others already experienced, perhaps identical to those to come, and there is no rush, no trick or deception to decide what is the good time to orient yourself in the future. But the ideas are there, the casting started days ago (even weeks) and the x-ray of a situation as clear as spring water led us to take the necessary time: the market is not a threat, not now. The turning point is in the air, we don’t know when or how it will be possible, but Giovanni Manna – Napoli’s boss – has been working for a while now, even on a holiday weekend, and has tried to understand what the margins are to get to Mario Gila (26 years old in August), the Lazio centre-back who he and Allegri like, who still has a year left on his contract in Rome but who still has a very high price and will require subtle forms of persuasion to be able to have it.

There are

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Napoli has high-level cuirassiers in its workforce, it has invested (and how) in the last two years in that sector too, it spent 32 million on Beukema from Bologna in 2025 and a more or less equal sum to get Buongiorno from Torino in the summer of 2024: then, there are Rrahmani (with a now renewed contract), Rafa Marin (who will return from Villarreal), Marianucci (who was on loan at Toro) and also Olivera and Di Lorenzo who would know how to solve any problems in emergencies. The 30 million that Lazio would like, for a player who can make commitments on a free transfer from next January, are considered excessive: however, Gila was on the list of favorites of Milan’s Allegri and also joined Napoli’s list in the days in which Sarri represented a temptation for ADL.

let’s talk about it

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In cases like this, some chat is inevitable and Napoli have liked the Spaniard for a while: Lazio resists, they have no intention of (con)ceding, they can legitimately make the price (knowing that they have to give Real Madrid 50% of what they would collect, but De Laurentiis will never go as far as that 30 million euros. Obviously, it will be necessary to update and it will be necessary to let the matter become more “reasonable”: ADL arrived yesterday in Los Angeles, he will remain there for another twenty days, the time zones do not make it easy but there is space to indulge in a chat. And in the meantime, in Spain, Gila experienced an emotionally rich day with her family with the baptism of her little girls, Ares and Vittoria, to whom she dedicated a post on social media “Thank you for making us experience this beautiful day. You are the joy of our life. We love you very much”.

Why? Yes?

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Gila satisfies technical desires, the need to equip itself with another gigantic interpreter, above all it has within itself an almost natural leadership to be inserted in a sector in which personality is not lacking. To Allegri, he gives guarantees; and at Napoli, further certainties for a defense that last year experienced some missed passes and which however in the championship season was able to face – and in what way – every danger, becoming the least beaten rearguard of the five professional championships. But time passes, Rrahmani turned 32 in February; Juan Jesus just came out; Olivera is approaching 29 and Di Lorenzo will reach 33 in August, he won’t be able to ask for overtime even as a central defender. Gila lowers the average age, he has a contract – just over one million net – which is in line, although clearly tweaking it, with the economic profile of the club and he doesn’t need to fit in, after four championships and 120 appearances with Lazio, he knows what he has to do with Italy. And he knows very well that in August Napoli will play the Champions League, that they will try to be protagonists in Italy, that they will find a coach who would have wanted him elsewhere and a club that has been courting him for months now. A SuperMario would look great back there.