Chelsea right back Zappacosta added to Napoli’s January shortlist — report

Almost one and a half years into his Chelsea tenure, former Torino full back Davide Zappacosta has not done much beyond bombarding our opponents’ penalty areas with easy-to-clear crosses. Already a well-entrenched backup under Antonio Conte; the 26-year-old’s luck has not changed much with the arrival of Maurizio Sarri.

Zappacosta has a grand total of three appearances to his name (two starts in the Europa League and one 6-minute cameo in the Premier League), so exit rumors continue to swirl around him. He rubbished the idea of leaving during the summer, but that resolve may be slowly changing.

According to Italian TV channel Rai Sport (via Tutto Mercato Web), Napoli have added Zappacosta to their shortlist of potential reinforcements at full back in January. Other players on the list include Ajax’s Nicolas Tagliafico, SPAL’s Manuel Lazzari and Manchester United’s Matteo Darmian — who is another former Torino player like Zappacosta.

The report does not say whether they are seeking a loan arrangement or a permanent move, but a loan move may be the easiest to arrange, perhaps with that classic Italian buy-option clause inserted as well.

Ed.note: It’s also perhaps noteworthy that this rumor comes hot on the heels of Elseid Hysaj’s agent revealing that his client would’ve likely gone to Chelsea this summer were it not for some slick maneuvering by the Napoli owner. Hysaj isn’t quite producing up to his usual standard under Ancelotti and Zappacosta has yet to produce up to any standard at Chelsea ... maybe we should just swap them?