Over 20 million reasons for Milinkovic-Savic to become Napoli’s first-choice

For the foreseeable future, Napoli will be without goalkeeper Alex Meret, who had fallen out of favour under Antonio Conte at the Stadio Maradona, and now there are even more reasons for €20m-man Vanja Milinkovic-Savic to cement himself as the no.1 choice between the posts. 

Meret, who has suffered an injury to his metatarsal, had won two Scudetti over the last three seasons, but had been overtaken in the Napoli pecking order by Milinkovic-Savic following his arrival from Torino over the summer. 

Milinkovic-Savic has started the season as Napoli’s first-choice goalkeeper, a decision that was not necessarily definitive, but one that Conte had intended to stick with for the first part of the season. 

Now, Napoli have become even more reliant on the Serbian shot stopper, who had originally been brought in for his ability to play with the ball at his feet. 

The former Torino goalie will now face the biggest test of his Napoli career this weekend. Following the disastrous 6-2 defeat against PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League midweek, Milinkovic-Savic and Napoli will go up against Inter with the two teams level on points in second and third place ahead of kick-off. 

There are 20 million reasons, 21.5 million to be precise, for Milinkovic-Savic to put this difficult period behind him and cement himself as Conte’s long-term no.1.