Napoli’s revival under Spalletti.

Only four clubs in the top five leagues in Europe remain unbeaten in all competitions so far this season. Whilst it may be no surprise that Manchester City, Real Madrid and PSG are three of them, the identity of the fourth, Napoli, is unexpected.

Yet they sit proudly on top of Serie A with 23 points from 9 games, two ahead of their nearest challengers, and have won all four of their games in the Champions League, including a thrashing of Liverpool at home and a humbling of Ajax in Amsterdam.

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All of this is very unlikely after they cut their wage bill by 30% and made a profit in the transfer window by letting key players leave. Lorenzo Insigne departed as a free agent, Kalidou Koulibaly was sold to Chelsea, and Dries Mertens was moved on to Galatasaray. Meanwhile, playmaker Fabian Ruiz joined PSG.

With money saving clearly on the agenda, both the club’s president, Aurelio De Laurentiis, and manager Luciano Spalletti, were on the firing line from unhappy fans, and Spalletti even had his car stolen, with the thieves promising they would return it on condition he left the club.

When their most gifted remaining attacker, Victor Osimhen went down injured in early September, it seemed likely to be a season of struggles at best.

However, they managed to rebuild the club with an innovative transfer strategy, going for low-profile targets that were on the margins at other clubs, but were relatively cheap, and appeared to come with little downside risk. If not exactly Moneyball, not far off it.

In at the back came South Korean international Min-Jae Kim from Fenerbahçe, who had spent three seasons in China before his move to Turkey. He was joined by the Uruguayan Mathias Olivera, who had previously been with La Liga strugglers Getafe, and Norwegian defender Leo Ostigard, who had been with Brighton.

In midfield, they took a gamble on Tanguy Ndombélé signed on loan from Tottenham, where he had failed to justify his record transfer fee.

However, it is in the forward line that the roll of the dice has proved to be a particular success so far. Giacomo Raspadori has arrived on loan with an option to buy from Sassuolo, and then there is Giovanni Simeone (son of the Atlético Madrid manager Diego), another loanee, who has already scored against Liverpool and Ajax.

Above all, there is the 21-year-old Georgian, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who has already earned the nickname “Kvardona” in homage to Napoli’s favourite adopted son, Diego Maradona (who led them to the only two Scudetto titles in the history of the club in the 1980s).

Bought for a bargain price of just £10 million, he has already scored six goals and provided three assists.

It’s still too early to tell if this unlikely group of musketeers can keep up their challenge on all fronts, but so far, things are going much better than anyone in the club could have hoped.

Given also that some of the traditional big sides in Italy have made a stuttering start to the season – the Milan clubs are fifth and seventh, whilst Juventus are languishing in eighth – this could yet be Napoli’s time again.