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football.london spoke to Italian journalist and Napoli expert Antonio Giordano to get the insight on Arsenal's incoming recruitment specialist Maurizio Micheli
Arsenal are close to appointing Maurizio Micheli as a part of Andrea Berta’s recruitment group, and football.london understands he will effectively become the sporting director’s number two. The Italian has spent his career in his home country but appears to be branching out to work with his compatriot at the Gunners.
His work at Napoli has been both positive and somewhat questioned during his time there. But overall, he has been credited with some excellent finds, like Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, the likes of which at Arsenal will be appreciated greatly in the coming seasons.
However, to get a better understanding of these successes and failures, football.london has sought the expertise of Italian journalist and Napoli expert Antonio Giordano.
Micheli’s work at Napoli did bring about some great success which clearly has caught the attention of Arsenal and Andrea Berta. Giordano highlights what it was that eventually led to the title.
“He made a major contribution to building the project,” Giordano explains. “Micheli worked at Napoli in two phases: the first in 2010, when he was reunited with Marek Hamsik in the Azzurri shirt — a player he had discovered at 16 when he was at Brescia.
“He returned six or seven years later, and his influence — as sporting director [Christian] Giuntoli’s scout — can be seen in the transfer strategies that eventually led to the 2023 league title, through his scouting work.”
This league title, however, was not necessarily the springboard; in fact, it was anything but, as they would finish tenth the following season. Some odd signings were made and failed to stave off the drop in quality after players like Kim Min-jae, Eljif Elmas and Hirving Lozano left.
“Winning the third Scudetto created a sort of collective illusion within the club,” explained Giodano. “The transfer market was technically directed by Micheli, who initially became the reference point in decision-making during a strangely chaotic situation.
“The transfer window was handled poorly, with the signings of [Jens] Cajuste, Natan, and [Jesper] Lindström.”
Moving to Arsenal however to work alongside Andrea Berta who is the leading recruitment figure now at the club, could help Micheli again find his comfortable spot. Although when put to Giordano if this role with Berta could bring out his best, he was quick to point out that effectively this was already the case at Napoli.
“That is essentially his role,” he said. “Micheli knows the international market well, has strong connections across Europe and also in South America, and has a great eye for identifying talented players — especially young ones
“But also certain undervalued profiles, like [André-Frank Zambo] Anguissa or [Faouzi] Ghoulam, who arrived at Napoli not as youngsters but then flourished.”
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