It was the hand of Cristiano Giuntoli, a football cycling tourist

There are jobs in football that require you to find simple solutions to complex problems. That of the sporting director is one of these. What counts is the ability to analyze, what counts the ability to manage the group, what counts is the ability to imagine alternative paths if the usual ones become unfeasible. And it happens more and more often when one has to, in one way or another, make a good calculation if resources are limited in a world where some have very different, much wider, almost indefinite limits. Napoli sporting director Cristiano Giuntoli, has always had to do arithmetic and has always been comfortable with additions and subtractions. He has always found it good above all to follow little roads not frequented by the great football traffic. He has the attitude of an experienced cycle tourist, the one who knows very well where to go to pedal peacefully, the one who rides certain roads not with the hope that they lead somewhere, but with the certainty that they lead somewhere, to the pre-established arrival.

Cristiano Giuntoli was a discreet, reliable footballer, good for Serie C and D, not a champion, but one capable of understanding what needed to be done and choosing the right moment to do it. Béla Guttmann called it “effectiveness of analytical sensitivity”. The great coach from Budapest who revolutionized football at least a couple of times between Újpest, Sao Paulo, Porto and Benfica in twenty years – before he was revolutionized by Rinus Michels’ Ajax – was a man of philosophical readings and literary intuitions. And what he called the “effectiveness of analytical sensitivity”, i.e. the ability to relate to the context to find the best solutions in a circumstance or environment, is something that suits Cristiano Giuntoli perfectly. If one thing in all these years he has demonstrated is that this “effectiveness of analytic sensitivity” does exist, and in large doses.

Cristiano Giuntoli after retiring from the field studied for a long time in Coverciano, he tried to learn as much as possible at La Spezia, then he moved on to the facts. Carpi trusted him, he reciprocated trying to understand what the coach really needed, looking for the most suitable players for the tactical project, not caring about name, fame and power of attorney. Blindly trusting those who had won his trust and noting on the field, on the sidelines, how well it was placed. From the 2009-2010 season, from D to promotion to A. Six years of successes and low costs, of players who went from being nobody to being able and enlistable between A and B.

Aurelio De Laurentiis took it under Vesuvius. He drew a Napoli in the image of Maurizio Sarri beforethen by Rafa Benítez, Carlo Ancelotti, up to the perfection achieved with Luciano Spalletti. A team built in two years with a total outlay of ten million euros (considering the balance between purchases and transfers). Figure that Monza will disburse for the redemption of Petagna.

Last season Cristiano Giuntoli and Luciano Spalletti spoke for a long time between the end of June and the beginning of July. Of tactics, of schemes, of play. Few players. Giuntoli brought him Matteo Politano, Frank Anguissa, Axel Tuanzebe and Juan Jesus. There was talk of a bankruptcy market. Napoli finished third.

The same happened this summer. The departures of Ciro Mertens and Lorenzo Insigne were joined by those of Kalidou Koulibaly and Fabián Ruiz. A string of players with strange names arrived, such as Min-jae Kim and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Tanguy Ndombélé and Giovanni Simeone with wandering pasts, promising young players who needed time, Giacomo Raspadori. There was talk of a bankruptcy market again. It went differently.