Top 6 replacements for Zinedine Zidane at Real Madrid

#5 Maurizio Sarri

Napoli have become a team to watch under Maurizio Sarri

“I respect him, but he's not the right coach for a winning Napoli."

Diego Maradona will be eating his words after watching Napoli top the Italian Serie A under Maurizio Sarri. The Italian's appointment in Naples wasn't welcomed but the fans will be thanking the board for letting him take on the hot seat in 2015.

Rafael Benitez's departure after a fifth-place finish saw Sarri guiding the Partenopei to the second spot, with an improvement of 19 points. In the following season, the club finished third and had to cope with the loss of in-form striker Gonzalo Higuain.

However, the Argentine now lies forgotten in the history books as the front three of Jose Callejon, Lorenzo Insigne and Dries Mertens are taking Serie A by storm. The trio netted 71 times in total last season and have replicated the form this year.

The Italian's highly-pressing 4-3-3 system, with a solid defensive wall, perfectly suits Real Madrid's style of play. Also, Napoli have shown a strong desire to come back from losing positions and wing games, much like the Real Madrid of old used to do.

Although he favours a possession-based style of play much different to the counter-attacking and free-flowing football at Real Madrid, the philosophical change seems prudent, seeing how Real seem to have lost pace.

With Bale mostly injured and Ronaldo no more the speedy wide man he was two years ago, Real could do well to depend on the technicalities of their stellar and creative midfield to fire them to glory.

Comparing the depths of squads at Madrid and Napoli, Sarri will get better flexibility at the former to work his magic and bring the Los Blancos back to the top.