Winds of change at Napoli?

It was but nine years ago that Napoli faced one of the darkest, if not the darkest, times in their storied history. The club, which had been spiraling into a financial abyss for years, finally went bankrupt, ultimately found itself in Serie C1, and looked to be as far removed from its glory days as possible.

More recent years have seen Napoli climb back up to the more familiar heights of the sharp end of the Serie A table, and their trajectory has only continued on this upward ascent since the October 2009 appointment of Walter Mazzarri. With Mazzarri bringing in Edinson Cavani and allowing the likes of Gökhan İnler and Marek Hamšík to pull the strings in his preferred 3-4-3 system, Napoli has enjoyed the just rewards of finishing second in Serie A this season behind the all-conquering Juventus and causing plenty of noise in Europe in recent years.

However, with Mazzarri's surprise announcement of his resignation following Napoli's final game of the season, yet another massive question will need to be answered in what could be a crucial summer yet.

Naturally the first question to arise in this summer of transition is one of just who will take over for Mazzarri. To this point no names have really emerged as being lined up for the job just yet, but this job is unquestionably one that will be highly desirable for any prominent managers on the job market. Napoli's involvement in next season's Champions League will make the potential of this post only that much sweeter.

The future could indeed be bright for whoever takes the job, but an elevated emphasis should be placed upon the uncertainty of the word could in this statement. Yes, Napoli's assembly of attacking prowess is one to be admired by even the biggest of clubs, but therein lies perhaps the greatest problem facing Napoli at this point: Europe's giants have taken notice of the remarkable talents at Napoli's disposal as well. Edinson Cavani has been on the wishlists of various renowned clubs for a couple of years now, and his gaudy goal tally in Serie A this season will only have the sharks circling around Napoli even more. Hamšík could also move elsewhere during the summer.

The massive stage of the Champions League awaits Napoli in only a few months' time, but it is scarcely wrong to wonder just what this team will look like by then, both tactically and in personnel. Napoli fans must now wait with bated breath.