A few weeks ago, Exequiel Zeballos looked destined for the San Paolo lights and the weight of a Scudetto-chasing shirt. Napoli had the personal terms lined up, the project sold, the role mapped out. Then Boca Juniors said no.
Now he’s walking through arrivals at Milan airport, not as Napoli’s next wide weapon, but as Monza’s surprise deadline-day swing.
It is a very different story. And it might suit him perfectly.
The Deal That Collapsed, The One That Didn’t
Napoli pushed hard. Their offer – around €10m plus add-ons – reflected a clear belief that Zeballos could grow into a key attacking piece. The player had agreed. The move was ready to go from his side.
Boca Juniors shut the door.
Instead of a big-money move to a Champions League-chasing club, Zeballos leaves Buenos Aires for a far more modest fee and a very different stage. Monza step in late, pay roughly €4m, and only for 60 per cent of his contract. Boca keep 40 per cent of any future sale, a sign they are not ready to let go of his potential earnings just yet.
For Monza, it is opportunism. For Boca, it is a hedge. For Zeballos, it is a new continent and a new league, but not the one he initially prepared for.
“It All Happened So Fast”
The 24-year-old landed in Italy and cut a calm, almost bemused figure in front of the cameras.
“It all happened so fast, I will speak with coach Ivan Juric today,” he said, still processing the pace of the last few days. No long build-up, no extended saga. Just a sharp turn from one Italian destination to another.
His reasoning for choosing Serie A carried a personal echo.
“I wanted to come to Italy because my father's idol is Maradona.”
That line matters. For a kid from Boca, Maradona is not just a name; he is mythology. Zeballos will not wear Napoli’s shirt, but he will walk the same league where Diego became a god to his father’s generation. The path is different, the dream is not.
Paredes, Advice and a Road Not Taken
Inside the Boca dressing room, Zeballos did not make this decision in a vacuum. He leaned on one of the few men who truly know what it means to cross the Atlantic and handle Serie A’s demands: Leandro Paredes, the former Roma and Juventus midfielder.
“It's true, Paredes gave me a lot of advice, especially when we were talking about Napoli,” Zeballos admitted.
That detail lingers. The advice was framed around a move that never materialised, around a club he will now face as an opponent rather than a home. The conversations with Paredes, the image of Maradona, the prospect of the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium – all of it shaped a move that ended up taking him somewhere else entirely.
The irony is sharp. The motivation remains.
What Monza Are Getting
Zeballos is not a raw unknown. He arrives with 140 competitive games for Boca Juniors behind him, a serious body of work at one of the most pressurised clubs in South America. Sixteen goals, sixteen assists. The numbers do not scream superstar, but they tell a story of a wide attacker who contributes on both sides of the ball and across both flanks.
He can play left or right, stretch defences, attack full-backs, and drive at the box. For a club like Monza, those traits are not a luxury; they are a way to change the rhythm of games against stronger opponents.
This is not Napoli plugging a ready-made piece into a title-chasing machine. This is Monza betting on upside, on a player still young enough to grow, seasoned enough to cope, and hungry enough to prove a point to the clubs that passed.
Napoli’s loss, Boca’s calculation, Monza’s opportunity. Zeballos has his league, his Maradona connection, and his European chance. Now comes the only part that really counts: what he does with the ball at his feet in Serie A.
