Adequate Provocation in the Heat of Passion is a legal phrase, used in the American court system to mitigate a crime from murder in the first or second degree down to voluntary manslaughter. Why bring this up now, in the context of writing about Napoli? Well, I confess, it's because I've been having homicidal thoughts about some who don the azzurri kit.

Napoli president Aurelio de Laurentiis has confirmed there is a buyout clause written into the contract of reported Liverpool target Ezequiel Lavezzi.
But Laurentiis is irritated that he ever reached such an agreement with Lavezzi and his representatives - and claims it will never happen again.
"Lavezzi's agent very sneakily asked me for a buy-out clause and as a novice, I fell for it, but from that point on I have never accepted another clause in the contract," said De Laurentiis.

The Time Is Napoli! Italy's two premier sides went head to head in the peninsula's showcase match of Week 2. Both the Partenepoi and Rossoneri earned respectable draws against hotly fancied opposition in Manchester City and Barcelona respectively midweek, were coming into the Sao Paolo clash with injury concerns.

Ezequiel Ivan Lavezzi had a long campaign. 31 appearances in Serie A last season for Napoli proved tremendously successful on both a personal and club level, as the player score six goals and fired his side into the Champions' League qualifying position. He then joined Argentina's National Team for an ultimately disappointing Copa America, featuring in two group match games as a starter and one.

Putting the mope in moped Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis showed his displeasure at the Serie A fixture list for the new season by storming out of the draw and demanding a stranger drive him away on a scooter. The crazy owner felt the computer responsible for the draw was deliberately serving up difficult matches [.

So dismayed by the announcement of Serie A's schedule and the injustices suffered by his beloved Napoli, their sultan, Aurelio De Laurentiis, a man who knows a dramatic exit, stormed out of the proceedings with some ludicrous accusations involving a teenager and a scooter. Words were uttered: "There are about five people in football I'd believe this last paragraph to be true about he's one of them.

So the news is back! Sorry for the delays with some of my recent articles, but Wordpress has been acting up. The transfer window is very much alive, unfortunately.

• Juventus continue to pursue a striker in La Liga, but it's no longer Sergio Aguero, instead Villarreal's Giuseppe Rossi might be on his way to Turin.

Aurelio de Laurentiis, owner of Napoli, would certainly know how to put on a show, being a Hollywood producer and all.

So when announcing his major new signing, he did just that, putting on a show by having the "mystery man" don a lion's mask before the jig was up upon revealing the number.

Roberto Mancini looking to his homeland for transfer targets. - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Manchester City coach Roberto Mancini has identified a host of Serie A targets that he will be interested in buying this summer. The Italian is concocting a transfer wishlist to City owner Sheikh Mansour, which contains players from the length and breadth of Italy's top flight.

Our ‘What To Watch For In Copa América" compilation of vignette-esque perspectives from our friends that manage some of the best football sites around continues. This time we focus on two of the most dangerous players in the Copa with Ben Shave, co-editor of In Bed With Maradona while writing for his personal site Cahiers Du Sport along with an array of other sites (PortuGoal, ITV.

Palermo have reached their first Coppa Italia final in over three decades. The Rosanero beat AC Milan 2-1 at home, to go through the semis on a 4-3 aggregate score. The side now faces either Roma or Inter in the final at the Stadio Olimpico on May 29th.

Aurelio De Laurentiis and Walter Mazzarri's tenuous relationship seems to be growing more and more fragile by the day.

A victory is always a good result however Napoli's victory over Genoa this last weekend was important in the context of the previous weeks. A third defeat in a row was unthinkable. Thankfully it didn't materialise thanks to a typical Marek Hamsik goal and performance, oblivious for 80 minutes and then scoring when it matters 'The ball just did not want to go in' he told.

‘I cannot guarantee Mazzarri will stay at Napoli, I do think it's something he'll have to consider long and hard before committing to a decision' Those are the words of Walter Mazzarri's attorney Simone Canovi, spoken at the end of March. With Napoli riding so high in the league and on course for the best finish in two decades why would Mazzarri consider moving on?

AC Milan, Napoli, and Sampdoria: what do the three sides have in common? Two are scudetto contenders, and one is a relegation possibility, but all three have spoken recently about losses.

Both AC Milan and Napoli have reiterated that their star strikers, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Edinson Cavani respectively, won't be leaving this summer.