With five weeks to go before the FIFA World Cup, Mexican winger Hirving Lozano is making positive strides in his bid to win starting berth with Napoli.
If he convinces Luciano Spalletti that he is the best option on the left between now and November, that may guarantee him a starting place in the Mexican team.
Lozano’s career in Naples since arriving back in 2019 from PSV has been a mixed bag of brilliance and frustrations.
He has also not been fortunate with injuries, when he is fit and firing, he is almost unstoppable, as seen on Wednesday in the UEFA Champions League against Ajax.
He opened the scoring after four minutes and started Napoli’s 4-2 victory that earned them a place in the round of 16.
That was his second goal this season after opening his account last week in Serie A against Cremonese.
Lozano has been a part player for Napoli, with Spalletti preferring a front three of Matteo Politano, Giacomo Raspadori and red-hot Georgian forward Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.
PLENTY OF TALENT
Napoli is blessed with talent upfront Eljif Elmas, Giovanni Simeone and Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen, are players that can interchange and play across all the attacking positions, which meant Lozano has had to accept a role on the bench and grab his chances when he gets them.
If he rediscovers his Eredivisie form of 17 goals and eight assists in 2017/18 and 2018/19, then perhaps he could dislodge any of them.
For now, it remains to be seen if his last two performances have convinced Spalletti to hand him his first start in the league against Bologna on Sunday.
During the international week, he played no part in Mexico’s defeat against Colombia in September in a friendly match.
Mexico manager Gerardo Martino appeared to be trying different combinations upfront, with Uriel Antuna, Henry Martin and Alexis Vega starting the game.
MEXICA’S SOURCE OF GOALS
In the previous game against Peru, however, Lozano started and scored the only goal of the match, he played in the front three of Martin and Roberto Alvarado.
In the absence of Wolverhampton Wanderers forward Raul Jimenez, Lozano, alongside Antuna, could become Mexico’s source of goals in this World Cup.
It’s worth noting Jimenez hasn’t been ruled out of the World Cup, yet he is still recovering from a groin injury.
He has only played three games for the Wolves this season and missed Mexico’s friendly matches in September.
Martino still retains optimism that his number one striker will be available for him, if he is still not fit come November, players like Lozano will have to step up.
For the moment, he is on the right track, and if he keeps it up, he could be an important player for Mexico.
His name has been bandied around in the transfer window, and a good world cup could earn a move away in search of regular game time.
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