Gonzalo Higuain mobbed as he arrives in Naples ahead of his medical

 Italian club Napoli have moved quickly to fill the void left by star striker Edinson Cavani’s recent move to Paris St-Germain by announcing the imminent arrival of Gonzalo Higuain, after he and Spanish goalkeeper, Jose Reina, both passed medicals yesterday. John Coates provides the details on this protracted transfer saga….

 Real Madrid striker Higuain, 25, is on the verge of signing a reported five-year contract at the Stadio San Paolo for a 40million euro (£34.5million) fee, while Liverpool stopper Reina, 30, is joining on a season-long loan deal, which will see him work again with his former Reds manager Rafael Benitez. The duo were pictured heading for medicals at Rome’s Villa Stuart sport clinic on Wednesday, and Napoli president, Aurelio De Laurentiis subsequently confirmed a successful outcome for both players through his official Twitter account, saying: “Higuain and Reina have passed their medicals and will soon join the rest of the group.”

It is the deal for Higuain that will particularly excite the San Paolo faithful. The Argentinian ace, who netted an impressive 107 league goals in six seasons with Real Madrid despite not always being an automatic starter, was quickly identified as the marquee signing that would help compensate for the loss of their talisman of last season and leading scorer, Cavani. The capture of Higuain represents something of a coup for Napoli, as English side Arsenal had long been regarded as favourites to sign the player, once he had signalled his intent to leave the Bernabeu. The interest from Napoli, boosted by funds from the sale of Cavani, saw Real Madrid increase their asking price to the 40million euro fee, which is significantly more than the figure the Spanish giants are believed to have originally quoted Arsenal. Apparently unwilling to increase their offer, Napoli have taken full advantage to bring the former River Plate hero to Italy and recently installed boss Benitez has expressed his delight at landing the prolific marksman: “We have signed a player who comes from Real Madrid and we have signed a striker who has scored a hatful of goals and who will adapt very well to our system – an attacking system. We needed a player like this.”

The failure to complete a deal for Higuain has left many Arsenal fans disappointed, and is also quite a gamble by manager Arsene Wenger. His decision not to continue his pursuit of a world-class player and someone who was seemingly very keen to join the club, and instead focus his efforts on trying to lure controversial Uruguayan forward Luis Suarez from Liverpool has raised eyebrows among supporters and pundits alike in England. Normally so conservative in the transfer market, he will be hoping that such an unusually bold move pays off and he is able to deliver Suarez as the long-awaited replacement for Robin van Persie. If not then he may well come to regret passing up the opportunity to sign ‘El Pipita’. Ironically, Higuain is likely to get an early chance to show the Arsenal boss what he has missed out on when Napoli participate in the forthcoming Emirates Cup in London, an event which the Gunners host.