On July 26, 2020, Juventus claimed their ninth consecutive Serie A title, with goals from Fernando Bernadeschi and Cristiano Ronaldo seeing them beat Sampdoria 2-0 and put the finishing touches on their Scudetto. Since then, no team has managed to successfully defend the league title in Italy’s top-flight, with Inter, Milan, and Napoli laying claim to the award in the following years. Inter would rip the title from Napoli’s grasp in 2024, but whilst they came close, they nevertheless were unable to defend the championship as Napoli claimed the Scudetto on the final day.
- by Zach Lowy – @ZachLowy on X
Napoli have been hard at work in the transfer market in order to reinforce their squad for a season that will see them not only participate in the league, Coppa Italia and Supercoppa Italiana, but also compete in the UEFA Champions League. Antonio Conte’s side have replenished their roster with a number of intriguing signings like Torino goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic, Udinese striker Lorenzo Lucca, Empoli defender Luca Marianucci, and Bologna defender Sam Beukema – not to mention one of the greatest midfielders of the past generation in Kevin de Bruyne. What’s more, they haven’t had to sell any key players from their Scudetto-winning side due to the blockbuster sale of Victor Osimhen at Galatasaray.
The Partenopei have completed free transfers for teenage talents Mathias Ferrante and Emanuele Rao, whilst they’ve also added Noa Lang from PSV Eindhoven for €25 million.
Born in Capelle aan den IJssel, Netherlands to a Surinamese father and a Dutch mother, Lang split his youth development between HION, Feyenoord, Beşiktaş and Ajax before bouncing around on loan from Twente to Club Brugge. Lang flourished in Belgium, racking up 38 goals and 34 assists in 125 appearances and winning two league titles, before returning to the Netherlands in 2023. Having joined PSV Eindhoven for a club-record €15 million fee, Lang didn’t take long to become a key figure under Peter Bosz and helping them win the 2023/24 Eredivisie title.
Even when the 2024/25 league title looked to be out of reach, with Ajax boasting a seemingly insurmountable lead following their 2-0 win against PSV on March 30, Lang didn’t quit. Instead, he reached peak form during the final two months of the campaign, grabbing a goal and an assist vs. Almere City and an assist vs. Twente and a goal vs. Fortuna Sittard. They looked set for a fatal setback on May 11, with Feyenoord mounting a two-goal lead within 10 minutes, but Ivan Perisic would pull one back after halftime before setting up Lang’s equalizer. Just when the two sides looked set for a stalemate, Noa Lang snatched a victory at the final second after firing in a 99th-minute winner at De Kuip. With Lang running the show in attack, PSV managed to close out the season with seven straight victories, snatching the league title from Ajax’s grasp.
“I was watching the game – the Feyenoord fans were booing their former player the entire game, but Lang made the impact by scoring twice,” stated Mitchell van der Gaag. Van der Gaag worked alongside Lang during his two-year reign in charge of Jong Ajax, before serving as Erik ten Hag’s assistant coach at Ajax and Manchester United.
Speaking to Football-Oranje in an exclusive interview, he noted: “I think Lang can surprise even himself sometimes, but he’s a good player who can make the difference in difficult situations. He can create something out of nothing, you never know what’s going to happen with him. I rate him very highly.”
At 26 years of age, Noa Lang has already won a total of five league titles with Ajax, PSV Eindhoven and Club Brugge. Now, can he add to his tally in Italy and help Napoli successfully defend their Scudetto?
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