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Top 5 candidates to win the Capocannoniere this season

By John Vaccaro

Krzysztof Piatek #19 of AC Milan celebrates after scoring the his goal during the serie A match between AC Milan and Empoli FC at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on February 22, 2019 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Giuseppe Cottini/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Krzysztof Piatek #19 of AC Milan celebrates after scoring the his goal during the serie A match between AC Milan and Empoli FC at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on February 22, 2019 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Giuseppe Cottini/NurPhoto via Getty Images) /
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Napoli’s Polish striker Arkadiusz Milik kicks the ball towards Parma’s Italian goalkeeper Luigi Sepe during the Italian Serie A football match between SSC Napoli and Parma Calcio 1913 on September 26, 2018, at the San Paolo Stadium in Naples. (Photo by CARLO HERMANN / AFP) (Photo credit should read CARLO HERMANN/AFP/Getty Images)
Napoli’s Polish striker Arkadiusz Milik kicks the ball towards Parma’s Italian goalkeeper Luigi Sepe during the Italian Serie A football match between SSC Napoli and Parma Calcio 1913 on September 26, 2018, at the San Paolo Stadium in Naples. (Photo by CARLO HERMANN / AFP) (Photo credit should read CARLO HERMANN/AFP/Getty Images) /

3. Arkadiusz Milik

After 2 disappointing, injury-riddled seasons, Arkadius Milik seemingly turned a corner for Napoli last year. He only managed to score 5 goals in each of his first 2 seasons at Napoli, but last year he scored 17, which was good enough for 5th place in the league and finally showed Napoli he could be the striker they were looking for when they spent 35 million euros on him 3 years ago. Now he’ll be in his second year with Carlo Ancelotti at the helm with the full confidence of his club.

Last year, Milik had a lot of competition for goals with Dries Mertens scoring 16 of his own and Lorenzo Insigne adding 10 more. This year it seems likely that Milik will become more of a focal point of the attack for Napoli.

Him and Insigne are the only attacking players who really factor into Napoli’s long-term success with Mertens and Jose Callejon both on the wrong side of 30 and Mertens already eyeing a 2020 departure from Napoli.

That gives Napoli every reason to see if Milik is capable of carrying the attack for the foreseeable future. That should lead to more touches and, more importantly, more starts next season for Milik in which he can try to set a new career high for goals in a season.

He will also benefit from the improvements in the midfield this season. Last year, Marek Hamsik was really just holding the team back for the first half of the season and that’s why the club legend was shipped to China in the middle of the season.

His replacement, Fabian Ruiz, was fantastic for Napoli last year and really grew throughout the season. His talents in the midfield, working alongside Piotr Zielinski and Allan should open up a ton of opportunities for Milik.

The midfield really lacks depth, which means an injury would really hurt Milik’s chances at Capocannoniere, but I think he’ll get his first 20 goal season in Serie A this year.

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