A campaign, which began with hopes of becoming the first Serie A side in five years to retain the Scudetto, has seen their defence falter through a series of underwhelming performances and an injury list even a squad as strong as Napoli's has struggled to cope with. 

Right from the off, Antonio Conte lost Romelu Lukaku in pre-season, who's only now making his first scattered appearances of the season, and his absence was the starting point to a campaign that has seen them without Kevin De Bruyne, Frank Anguissa, David Neres and several other key names for prolonged periods of the term. 

It's a situation that's been difficult to deal with for Conte and his side, hugely contributing to their title race slowly fading and their exit altogether in the Champions League league phase. 

However, in recent weeks, a silver lining has appeared in the form of Antonio Vergara. An academy graduate given his opportunity in the first team, who has taken it with both hands and is already being seen as Napoli's newest star. 

Where did Vergara come from?

Naples-born and bred, Vegara was born in Frattaminore and joined Napoli as a teenager and has been part of the youth ranks since 2014. 

Seeing potential in the attacker, he signed his first professional contract in 2021 and until the start of this season had spent his entire career on loan in Italy's lower leagues. First with Pro Vercelli in Serie C, before two seasons in Serie B with Reggiana. 

His first season there was cut short with an anterior cruciate ligament injury, but last season he performed admirably, playing 35 games and scoring 5 goals in a campaign where the club finished 14th in the league. 

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However, nothing seemed to suggest that Vergara's displays had shown enough to become a big player for Napoli, and last summer, he almost left the club in search of making the grade in Serie A elsewhere. 

Yet, Vergara stayed, and finally made his debut for the first team, aged 23, in the champions' opening game against Sassuolo in August, with a cameo in the final minutes of the 2-0 win. 

Since then, he had been consigned to sitting on the bench, but as Napoli's injury crisis deepened, Conte turned to the young forward and allowed him to show what he could do - and he grabbed the opportunity with both hands. 

Making your minutes matter Getty Images

Having made fleeting appearances in the Champions League, Vergara was given his first start, ironcally agaisnst Sassuolo in January, after further injuries in attack to David Neres and Matteo Politano forced the manager to trust in his newest name from the start. 

That trust has been rewarded. After impressing in the hour he played, the winger has started in every league and Champions League game since. Showing a blend of technical ability and defensive work rate, which is ideally suited to a Conte team and the fans at the Diego Maradona stadium. 

His first goal for the club brought comparisons to the legendary figure the club's stadium is named after, as his delicate and skilful turn in the box against Chelsea reminded fans of their biggest ever icon, even if the goal was in vain, as the club were dumped out of Europe. 

He followed that up with a first Serie A goal in the vital 2-1 win over Fiorentina last week, settling the nerves after a disappointing week with the opener and a display that is now making him undroppable for Napoil. There's even talk of a maiden call-up to the national team for the March friendlies, which would be incredible given he has only played six Serie A games. 

"Vergara deserves it, he deserves it more than others, so he plays,” Conte has said of the club's latest discovery.

“I am for meritocracy, I choose whoever deserves it. It doesn’t matter to me if he is 18 or 35, age doesn’t matter. I made my Serie A debut at 16. It means he is in better shape than others, so he plays rather than others. I told him if I choose him in the starting XI, it means we believe in him.”

That belief has spread throughout the city, and amid frustrations over their lack of squad depth, it's one of their own that could now lead their title defence for the rest of the season. 

It's the lift the club needed, and now Vergara's quick impact is fueling hopes of catching Inter in the title race and completing his boyhood dream and fairytale rise to Gli Azzurri star. 

 

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