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There was a time when Lega Serie A was a footballing Mecca - a holy grail of sorts for Club football. This was the Serie A of the 90s, but this too was the Serie A conquered by the languid and hypnotizing brilliance of a certain Diego Maradona, who captained Societa Sportiva Napoli at the peak of his powers.
Serie A of the 90s was generous in its fortunes. The likes of Milan, Juventus, Lazio and Sampdoria all tasted glory at the pinnacle of Italian football. But it all started with one of the greatest love stories in Calcio till date–Diego Maradona, SSC Napoli, goals, and the much coveted Scudetto.
Having finished ahead of Juventus in 1986/87 to win its first-ever Scudetto, The Partonepei returned three seasons later to reclaim their status as the best on the Italian peninsula. Three seasons apart, one man, one club, one city, one trophy, it’s no wonder the Napoli No.10 Shirt was retired in honour of the immortal Maradona.
In 1991, the curtains came down on Diego Maradona’s entrancing Napoli career; the talismanic Argentine had scored a total of 115 goals for Gli Azzurri, setting and leaving behind, a record as the Club’s all-time leading goalscorer.
Twenty-six years later, December 2017. Club captain Marek Hamsik scored the winning goal in a 3-2 defeat of Sampdoria. It was his 116th goal in a Napoli shirt, and the interpretation was clear; a certain Slovak veteran had surpassed the great wizard of Buenos Aires as Napoli’s all-time scorer.
Yet, as distinguished as Hamsik and Maradona’s goalscoring records for Napoli are, the Partonepei patrons are not alone, and as such, curiosity demands that we take a quick look at Napoli’s top-10 goalscorers of all time.
#1 - Marek Hamsik, 120+ Goals | 2007-Present
Captain. Leader. Legend.
Eleven seasons, four hundred and seventy-eight appearances, that's how long it took Marek Hamsik to earn an all-access backstage pass to one of Diego Maradona's many monuments.
On a satisfying afternoon of football for Maurizio Sarri's Napoli, Brazilian midfielder Allan danced past three Sampdoria players, picked out the diminutive Dries Mertens who rolled the ball brilliantly for Hamsik to tap home from close range, surpassing Diego Maradona's astonishing 115-goal tally for Gli Azzurri.
Since that historic moment in December 2017, The Slovak veteran has slowed down a bit, but his legacy as Serie A stalwart and Napoli's all-time leading goalscorer remains a source of pride and fulfilment as he enters the twilight years of what's been a truly exceptional career.
#2 - Diego Armando Maradona, 115 Goals | 1984-1991
El Pibe de Oro, The Golden boy.
That nickname stuck with him throughout his glamorous years of professional football, but it was during his Napoli years, that the world witnessed Diego Maradona at his bewitching best.
The envy of all mankind, and the yardstick by which all playmakers are measured for eternity.
In the wake of an injury and controversy-plagued Barcelona career, the advanced playmaker joined Napoli in a then world record fee of £6.9million. At the time, Neapolitans had their fair share of socio-economic challenges, but the people believed that their messiah had finally arrived -they weren't under illusions, Diego Maradona didn't solve all their problems, but as captain and top scorer, the Argentine proved the perfect therapy for whatever Gli Azzurri supporters endured in their personal lives
Is it coincidence or by natural design, that while he plied his trade with Napoli, Diego Maradona inspired success at both club and country? Helping Napoli win the Scudetto in the same calendar year he won the world cup for Argentina?
After spurring the Neapolitans to their first ever Scudetto in 1987, The World Cup winner finished the 1987/88 Serie A season as Capocannoniere with 15 goals as the little donkeys finished second behind Arrigo Sacchi's mesmerizing Milan side.
In what is believed to be his fourth and final season with Napoli, the talismanic captain put the cherry on the icing, notching sixteen goals en route the club's first and only domestic double.
#3 - Attila Sallustro, 108 Goals | 1926-1937
Perhaps, the most disappointing paragraph in Sallustro's Napoli Diaries will be his inability to break into the Italian National team in spite of his God-given techniques.
One of few Paraguayan footballers to have been born into stupendous wealth, Attila Sallustro literally refused any wages from Napoli, but the one thing he didn't do was curb the goalscoring obsession that distinguished him from his peers.
Il Divino, as he was fondly called by teammates, spent much of his professional career at the Stadio San Paolo. He joined the Neapolitans in 1926, spent a total of twelve years at the club, and hung his boots in 1937, but in-between, was a remarkable goal tally never before seen in the club's history.
#4 - Edinson Cavani, 104 Goals | 2010-2013
If Cristiano Ronaldo is the Napoleon of goals, will it be logical to recommend that Edinson Cavani be the initiated as the Da Vinci of the art?
As far as goalscoring is concerned, The name Cavani is an industry unto itself. It was at Palermo that the Uruguayan cut his teeth in Italian football, but in the early 2010s, with Societa Sportiva Napoli under the tutelage of Walter Mazzarri, the energetic poacher earned the rights to be called a World Class centre-forward.
His 104 goals for the Partonepei were notched in over 100 appearances in a Napoli shirt, but while Cavani's razor-sharp excellence in the box helped the Azzurri secure Champions League qualification (ahead of 2011/12) and the coveted Coppa Italia trophy (2012), it was his appetite and application to create and score goals with unerring regularity, that makes his exalted status in Italian footballing community untouchable.
Alongside Ezequiel Lavezzi and Marek Hamsik, Cavani helped form one of the most lethal attacking tridents in modern Serie A, The Italian press dubbed them "The Three Attacking Tenors".
Yet, while Lavezzi and Hamsik have since slowed down, El Matador has continued his poaching adventure in Parc des Princes, even surpassing the immortal Zlatan Ibrahimovic as PSG's all-time leading scorer.
#5 - Antonio Vojak, 103 Goals | 1929-1935
One of few players to have experienced both sides of the Juve-Napoli psychological warfare. Antonio Vojak belonged to the same generation as the divine Attila Sallustro. The legendary Napoli duo have since passed on, but when the exploits of Sallustro are echoed on the streets of Naples, there's no doubt the mention of Vojak will follow.
The Austra-Hungarian born striker plied his trade with Lazio, Juventus, Napoli and Genoa, before joining Lucchese-Libertas in the twilight years of his career, but it was as a Napoli player, that Vojak reached the peak of his powers.
Sadly, like his friend Sallustro, he never won any trophies in a Napoli shirt.
#6 - Jose Altafini, 97 Goals | 1965-1972
Often regarded as the most complete striker of his generation, it was at the tender age of 24, that the great José João Altafini scored his 100th Serie A goal. From AC Milan to Napoli, and Juventus, the Brazil-born poacher scored a total of 216 Serie A goals, but 71 of those came during his Stadio San Paolo years, and his contributions in a Napoli shirt remain worthy of mention.
Electrifying pace, razor-sharp goalscoring instincts, insane ball control techniques, Altafini had it all and would even enjoy the luxury of representing both Brazil and Italy at different world cups, perhaps a true testament to his legacy as a Milan and Napoli legend.
For Napoli fans, fond memories of his acrobatic beauty against Torino on the eve of 1968 will always arise when the subject of goalscoring is discussed in the football-obsessed street corners of Naples.
The next time you hear someone scream 'Golazzo', that's probably the voice of Altafini on one of Italy's very popular TV football channels.
#7 - Careca, 96 Goals | 1987-1993
Alongside Diego Maradona and Brun Giordano, the Brazilian completed the puzzle of what became a devastating Napoli front three, and although his first season at the San Paolo ended in heartbreak, it was in 1989/1990, after winning the UEFA Cup in his second season, that Antônio de Oliveira Filho engraved his name in Neapolitan folklore.
Careca was part of the Napoli team who after European Cup triumph in 1988/89, went on to win a historic domestic treble. His aerial prowess, and ability to score goals with both feet made him the complete striker for the Azzurri.
Is it then surprising that having scored 30 goals in 64 appearances for Brazil, Careca also managed an impressive haul of 73 goals in over 150 appearances for the Partonepei, before bowing out in the summer of 1993?
#8 - Dries Mertens, 91+ Goals | 2013-Present
He belongs to the same species as Lorenzo Insigne, Sebastian Giovinco, Marco Verratti and Papu Gomez; Born with a low-centre of gravity, but as ruthless and unforgiving as a starving beast in front of goal. Underrate him and he punishes you naivety.
In the opening weeks of 2018/19, The Belgian scored the winning goal in a thrilling 3-2 comeback against AC Milan at the Stadio San Paolo. This was vintage Dries Mertens, striking when the opponents thought the spoils had been shared.
Gone are the days when Serie A defenders were ignorant of his devices, teams are more aware of his deceptive runs and link up plays up front, yet the goals have kept coming for the winger-turned centre-forward.
Dries Mertens is more of a late bloomer. The diminutive Belgian bounced around the Eredivisie for much of his career, before eventually switching from PSV Eindhoven in 2013, when Rafa Benitez was at the helm.
The former PSV man didn't hit the ground running immediately, but since he reached the peak of his powers in 2016, the floodgates have stayed open, and Mertens hasn't looked back.
His winning goal against AC Milan was his 91st in a Napoli shirt, but at 31 and only nineteen goals behind the incredible Marek Hamsik, Dries Mertens could be the chosen one who emerges as Napoli's all-time top scorer in the near future.
#9 - Gonzalo Higuain, 91 Goals | 2013-2016
Il Pipita. Perhaps the most crucified centre-forward on the peninsula.
Napoli fans will cite loyalty as the reason they abhor his decision to join Juventus in 2016, but secretly, perhaps in late night conversations with their mistresses, they will admit, and swear, that their resentment has more to do with Pipita's goalscoring abilities helping Juve lift it's sixth and seventh successive Scudetti.
Gonzalo Higuain holds the record for the highest transfer fee in Napoli's history, both on his arrival from Real Madrid, and departure to Juventus in 2016, but perhaps, Neapolitans can take solace in the fact that his best season till date came at the Stadio San Paolo, when he scored a record 36 league goals in a single Serie A season (2015/16).
AC Milan and Gennaro Gattuso are currently enjoying some of what Napoli saw in abundance, and it's uncertain if the Argentine forward will ever replicate his electrifying brilliance in his final season with Napoli, but if he does, it will be mere confirmation that his appetite for goals barely changed.
#10 - Giuseppe Savoldi, 77 Goals | 1975-1979
Before Diego Maradona, there was a certain Giuseppe Savoldi.
Truth be told, it was with Bologna that the king of Bergamo played his finest football, scoring 140 goals in over 200 appearances, and inspiring two Coppa Italia triumphs in his remarkable seven-year spell with La Dotta. He also won the 1973/74 Capocannoniere with 17 league goals.
Nevertheless, Napoli did get to enjoy some of that electrifying brilliance in front of goal, and in his two-year sojourn through the Stadio San Paolo, Giuseppe Savoldi registered 77 goals in 165 appearances for Gli Azzurri, making him the 10th highest goalscorer in Napoli history.
“There are moments in football that are exclusively poetic: these are the moments of the “goal.” Each goal is always an invention, it is always a subversion of the code: each goal is an inevitability, shock, awe, irreversibility. Just like the word poetic. The top scorer of the league is always the best poet of the year. Right now it is Savoldi.”
– January 3, 1972, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italian poet, writer.
In the late 60s, Savoldi had a reputation as one of Italian football's rising stars, and to a large extent, the Gorlago native lived up to expectations. His transfer from Bologna to Napoli in 1975 is recorded in history as the first ever million-pound deal (£1.2 million) -a then world record fee.
If Napoli were willing to pay that much, Savoldi's goal tally proves he was definitely worth every penny.
