Marek Hamsik

Marek Hamsik has been quite a star for sometime now. Its no surprise to follower of Calcio that he we have a man who has been linked to Inter, Juve, Real, Chelsea and Milan for fees that run into millions and millions of Euro's. Napoli then can consider the fee that they paid for Hamsik peanuts. The 5.5 million Euro's paid to Brescia for Hamsik in 2007 may have seemed slightly high at the time for a player aged 19, and with no Serie A experience but with the performances that Hamsik has put in and the eye for goal that he has the vision to sign him, at the expense of bigger clubs in the league at the time of Napoli's promotion back to Serie A, can be seen as a huge coup. Especially as he has been Napoli's top scorer for the last two years in Serie A registering nine goals in each campaign from midfield. This may highlight the deficiencies that Napoli forwards Lavezzi, Denis and at the time Zalayeta had in front of goal for the last two seasons, but nine from midfield remains a tally that Hamsik's idol Pavel Nedved would be proud of.

If that was an impressive start, then performances this season have been stunning. 7 goals so far in just 12 rounds from midfield put Hamsik second in Serie A scoring behind only Antonio Di Natale, and level with such luminaries as Giampaolo Pazzini and Diego Milito. It takes his goal tally to 25 goals in just 81 games, from midfield. Nothing, however, stands up to the perfomance against Juventus two rounds ago when Napoli stormed Turin, from two goals down, to take three points back to the bay of Naples. Hamsik, along with Jesus Datolo, was the instigator of this comeback and rounded off the perfomance with a stunning finish into the postage stamp of the goal that left Gianluigi Buffon with no chance. One wonders what's next for Hamsik, but he is on the rise and on the way to greatness.
Image: Steindy