Sunday’s meeting between Fiorentina and Napoli at the Franchi brings together more than two sides pursuing their place in the Serie A season. It also carries the traces of a series of recruitment conversations, some brief and some more developed, that have linked Florence and Naples across several transfer windows.
Franco Mastantuono is the most immediate example. The 19-year-old Argentine, developed at River Plate and now owned by Real Madrid, arrived at Fiorentina on a straight loan during the summer. He comes into the Napoli match after announcing himself in emphatic fashion against Venezia, where his first goals for the club arrived in a hat-trick.
Napoli had also considered Mastantuono before Fiorentina completed the move. The club made contact with his representatives, Fernandez-Tamer, to explore the situation, but the enquiry did not progress into serious negotiations with the player. Financial restrictions in Napoli’s window and the need to remain within set parameters limited the scope for a deal, while Real Madrid’s position was clear: any departure would only be on a dry loan.
The interest had deeper roots. Giovanni Manna had followed Mastantuono even before his move from River Plate to Spain, when the midfielder was still playing in Argentina. That appreciation did not turn into a concrete move, and the player joined Real Madrid in the summer of 2025 in a €45 million transfer.
A familiar transfer route between Florence and Naples
Mastantuono is not the only player to have appeared in the thoughts of both clubs. Radu Dragusin, now a central defender in Paolo Vanoli’s Fiorentina squad, was close to Napoli in January 2024 before choosing a Premier League move to Tottenham. That was the turbulent Napoli campaign in which Rudi Garcia, Walter Mazzarri and Francesco Calzona each took charge.
Napoli also looked at Fiorentina right-back Dodo this summer. With his Viola contract running down and his place in the project no longer secure, he emerged as a possible option for the Azzurri, though no move followed.
The interest has travelled in the other direction as well. Fiorentina considered Napoli winger Noa Lang, without taking discussions far, while Beto had been among Napoli’s possible targets when the club were working on a successor to Victor Osimhen.
None of those routes ultimately joined up, but they give the Franchi fixture an added context. On the pitch, Fiorentina will have Mastantuono after his breakthrough afternoon against Venezia; across from them will be a Napoli side that once weighed the same opportunity before circumstances led both clubs down different paths.
