Giovanni Simeone exclusive interview: Diego Maradona’s legacy at Napoli and how Wyscout-inspired goalkeeper notebook has taken him to a new level | Football News

Giovanni Simeone is yet to start a Serie A game for Napoli this season, but it would be a mistake to think that his role in the club’s success is insignificant. He is the team’s finisher and a symbol for supporters aching to replicate the days of Diego Maradona.

Simeone scored the vital late winner against reigning champions AC Milan in September. That had people believing. He repeated the feat recently with his intervention in the 86th minute at home to Roma in the stadium now named after Maradona.

Fifteen points clear at the top of the table, that first scudetto in 33 years feels close. Simeone’s presence is treasured, his link to Maradona – a former team-mate of his own father, Diego – only making his involvement in this campaign even more special.

“Being an Argentinian here is amazing,” he tells Sky Sports.

“Napoli is different. This club represents the history of Italy, the history of Diego Maradona. It is a pleasure for me to play here because every fan sees me as Argentinian and because of Maradona they want to speak to me. It is Maradona, Maradona, Maradona.

“It is not just the club, it is the whole city. Everybody is a fan here.

“Everybody speaks about football, everybody breathes football. Neapolitans are similar to Argentinians. We speak similarly. We have the same gestures. It feels like home. I am the same as them because football is a passion for me. I am in the right place.”

Simeone’s passion cannot be questioned. This game had brought his father fame and fortune before he was even born. His is not the story of a young man out to change his life by earning riches, it is glory and an ambition to be the best that is driving him on.

At 13, he had a Champions League tattoo on his arm. Earlier this season, aged 27, he finally had the chance to play in the competition – marking the occasion with a goal within three minutes of his introduction against Liverpool. “That was the best moment,” he says.

“The first game. The first goal. A dream come true.”

That was the first of his eight goals for Napoli this season, accomplished in 534 minutes of football. Victor Osimhen is the starting striker, the top scorer in Serie A. But even he cannot match the strike rate of the man so often making the difference from the bench. Look how he compares to the rest of Serie A this season…

A goal every 67 minutes in all competitions means Simeone is scoring more regularly than Erling Haaland. It requires a specific mentality and Simeone credits his meditation with helping him to be in the right mindset to make an impact every chance he gets.

“It is not easy to know that you do not start. When the coach tells me that I will be on the bench, it is difficult for me but I always prepare as if I am starting. I need to be ready for everything. Life is like this, you must be ready for the moments that you do have.

“I am ready for every minute I am given.

“The quality of the time is more important than the quantity.”

No player craves the thought of being known as a super-sub but some handle the situation better than others. Watch Simeone on the bench and there is no sulking, only a player itching to be involved and, more than that, ensuring that his time is used effectively.

“On the bench, I am always talking with my team-mates. With [Giacomo] Raspadori, I am saying: ‘Look, this is the moment where you need to do it like this.’ Or I am saying: ‘OK, when we get in, maybe we need to do it like that.’ We talk about it all the time.”

These are not empty words. Perhaps it is natural given his father is renowned as one of the game’s greatest managers, but Simeone is a true student of football. It was his meditation that led him to a moment of clarity that has taken his game to a new level.

“When I was meditating, I had this idea,” he explains.

“I decided that I needed to write, I needed to study. All goalkeepers have a coach. So I said to myself, if it is important enough for the goalkeepers to study the forwards then it must be important enough for the forwards to study the goalkeepers.

“I study the goalkeepers a lot now because it is important for forwards to know the behaviour of goalkeepers when they shoot. I need to know their movements. I study that a lot, really in depth, so that when I am on the pitch, I know when and where to shoot.

“It is all in my notebook. Before every game I write down the names of the players. I write out my visualisations for different scenarios. And I write about the goalkeeper. What is the best thing that I can do against that goalkeeper? Then I visualise that shot.”

How long has this been going on? “This is the second year that I have been doing that, writing it down before every match,” he adds. It sounds time-consuming. “Every spare moment that I have at home I am going on the Wyscout app and I am writing something new.”

It helps to explain the improvement in his game. He was the fourth highest scorer in Serie A last season, scoring 17 goals for Hellas Verona, the best return of his career. Though time on the pitch has been more limited in Naples, Simeone believes he is getting better.

“This is the best moment, the best of my career,” he said. “But this is not my ceiling. I can improve more. I have a long way to go. I know that if I keep training then I can grow.” The hope, of course, is that he can do so as the man who helped to bring the title back to Napoli.

“The group is the most important thing. Every player will be needed. If the starting forward does not score, the next one can. It is the same with the defence and the midfield. It is important to know that we can count on every player within the squad.

“To get the trophy, we need to be there in every match. My dad says something that I have always tried to remember – partido a partido – match to match. We need to be prepared for every match, ready for everything, because every three points counts.

“I feel the same with the Champions League. I feel we can play against any club, ready to play against anyone. Then, it is difficult to say if you will win or not. But we are ready. The Champions League is really important to me. I want to be there in June.”

And how will he feel if Napoli do something special?

“I do not know because I have not won anything,” he replies, smiling.

“When it is the time, maybe I can tell you.”

The only surprise is that he has not visualised it already.