Even before the start of the season, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia managed to attract maximum pressure while being unknown to his supporters.
Arrived from Georgia this summer, the amount of his transfer - 10 million euros -, his nationality and the number of consonants in his surname immediately tickled the questions and the imagination of the supporters of Naples, for whom the half- measurement is an obscure concept.
During his hazing, the Georgian performs Opus' hit "Live is Life".
Famous title among the Neapolitans since the legendary juggling session offered by Diego Maradona before a UEFA Cup semi-final against Bayern in 1989. If the president Aurelio De Laurentiis prefers to call it "Zizi", Kvaratskhelia is baptized "Kvaradona". by the supporters, without having played a minute in an official match with the "Partenopei", the nickname of the Neapolitans.
“I know that Maradona represents everything for Naples, he launched during his presentation.
It is a great responsibility to be mentioned in the same sentence as him.
I can't get close to Maradona, but I will give everything to be a great player for this club.
Obviously, I like this nickname.
»
The signing of summer
The rest: a thunderous start to the season on the left wing of one of the sexiest collectives in Europe.
A breathtaking range of dribbling, 6 goals and 7 assists in 14 Serie A games and a level that does not drop in the Champions League, "Kvara" is the signing of the summer.
However, under his apparent carelessness, hides a brain that would be spinning a little too much.
“As soon as he gets rid of this pressure and starts to relax, you will see what a player he is,” promised Luciano Spalletti, the Neapolitan coach, after two league matches and a double against Monza.
Kvaratskhelia tearing it up 🫢 #UCL pic.twitter.com/iz8IVrv4Hd
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) January 4, 2023
Three and a half months later, the Italian coach takes charge of the observation himself: “His unpredictability allows him to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary.
“Embarrassed in the back before the World Cup, the Georgian has not been in his best shape since the return of club football.
Nothing frightening for a 21-year-old player.
Qualified in the knockout stages of the Champions League, Naples leads Serie A, seven points ahead of Juventus, who travel this Friday to the Diego Armando Maradona stadium.
While the transfer window was slow to start, the rookies convinced and the Partenopei exhibit a licked game and turned towards the opposing goal.
Nevertheless, vigilance lurks around this club which has a tradition of collapsing as the outcome approaches.
In 2018, Naples was content with the role of runner-up to Juve, despite 91 points and 21 league days spent on the throne.
If he sometimes struggles to finish matches and is regularly jostled in the duel, the native of Tiflis has the tools to feed Neapolitan ambitions.
Creative, fast and quasi-ambidextrous, he is not just an exclusive dribbler.
He varies the calls, can overflow or transplant in the axis to chain towards the goal and his positioning gives air to his teammates.
Sagnol had proposed it in L1
But how could a player with such gear still play in Georgia last year?
Son of footballer Badri Kvaratskhelia, who coached him at FC Rustavi, Khvicha returned to the country during the season.
Fifa has allowed Russian league players to be released from their contracts due to the war in Ukraine.
The Georgian took the opportunity to leave Rubin Kazan and fill Dinamo Batumi with happiness in April and May 2022.
Also passed by Lokomotiv Moscow, the 1m83 player especially shone in Kazan.
Unknown in Western Europe, he has been popular in his native country for a few years.
Willy Sagnol, coach of Georgia, tried to refer French clubs to him, without success.
“There is only one who was really interested in him but his sports director left in the middle of the transfer window, he blew in the columns of L'Equipe.
Other managers told me that they couldn't take the risk of signing a Georgian or that it wasn't ambitious enough for their supporters.
A club even suggested to me that we should perhaps try to make it
South American
!
»
This false start of the French teams promises to be irremediable, the "Kvaramania" is launched.
“Financially, Kvara was affordable for all L1 clubs.
There, only PSG can afford it, ”said Sagnol.
Cristiano Giuntoli, sports director of Naples, claims to have spotted the diamond from the first confinement.
According to him, the Neapolitan board has overtaken Roma, Real Sociedad and Juventus this summer.
This Friday, the Turinese risk paying on the ground for their lack of responsiveness during negotiations.