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A couple of days ago, we heard some grumblings that Napoli might be fairly desperate to lock up Etienne Capoue because of his EU citizen status. The main alternative they were looking at was Ralf from Corinthians, but they could not sign him if they signed another non-EU player, with them only having room for one.
Well, Rafa Benitez and Riccardo Bigon won't be signing Ralf. They've pulled the trigger on a non-EU defender.
#SSCNapoli ufficializza l'acquisto a titolo definitivo di @henriqueabuss dal Palmeiras con un contratto fino al 30 giugno 2017
— Official SSC Napoli (@sscnapoli) January 30, 2014
Presumably, this means that Napoli have either identified another central midfield target or two with EU citizenship ... or they're really confident that they'll be able to land Capoue.
If Tim Sherwood actually wants Capoue gone, they'd be right to be confident about that, but he did play 45 minutes on Wednesday. Additionally, Mousa Dembele picked up a knock -- the severity of which is to be determined -- and Lewis Holtby appears to be very close to the exit. Unless Spurs have a signing of their own lined up, selling Capoue could leave them thin in the middle, especially if Dembele has to miss a couple of games.
I'm not sure if Capoue is leaving, but it looks a bit more likely with Napoli announcing the signing of Henrique.
