In a football mad city like Naples it doesn’t take long for new Partenopei players to find themselves getting recognised by their adoring fans, but for Faouzi Ghoulam it has been his displays as much as pulling on the Napoli shirt that have recently seen him take an hour to exit his local butchers.
“It’s incredible, everyone here already recognises me,” Ghoulam told L’Equipe. “Once I didn’t even get into the cinema in time because I was signing autographs for fans!”
Although his €5 million transfer from Ligue 1 side Saint-Etienne in January was unlikely to fall under the radar, few would have expected the defender to make the immediate impact on the pitch that has led to such popularity amongst the Napoli support.
Even, with the departure of regular occupant Pablo Armero to West Ham United that same transfer window it was expected that the somewhat cautious Rafael Benitez would prefer the experience of veteran Anthony Reveillere at left-back despite the Frenchman being naturally right-footed.
It would turn out that this was far from the defender’s thoughts, admitting he felt that joining a big club like Napoli was a chance he could not pass up and he has grasped the opportunity with both hands, so far making 13 starts in all competitions.
At just 23-years-old it is easy to forget he has a raft of experience and was virtually an automatic starter for his previous club since 2011 making 97 appearances and playing prominent role in Saint-Etienne’s Coupe de la Ligue triumph last term and has shown that in some mature displays in Serie A.
Some will have doubted if the physicality of the Ligue 1 would have prepared him for Italian football, but he has been as robust as he has been exiting, often marauding down the left flank to link with attacks and was fundamental in the victories over Roma and Juventus.
In fact, while they may have lost some ground on the Giallorossi since their win at the beginning of March it was the Algerian international’s precise delivery that gave Jose Callejon the perfect opportunity to nod in a late winner past Morgan De Sanctis.
Had it not been for the fingertips of Gianluigi Bufffon an equally as precise free-kick during the visit of Juventus would have given the left-back his first goal for the club and capped a wonderful performance against the reigning champions.
Should he continue that form into this summers’ World Cup finals Algeria will be hopeful he can help them navigate their way through a comparatively weak group that also contains Belgium, Russia and South Korea, as well as he would likely be the recipient of some admiring glances from rival clubs.
Napoli will be happy that they took a chance when they did on the youngster few will have known outside the country of his birth, let alone Naples. And with Ghoulam stating that he made ‘a long term choice’ to join, the club can be confident he will continue his storming displays at the San Paolo for some time.
Follow Kevin Pogorzelski on Twitter at: @rabbitrabbiton
