were sucked into a relegation battle. The striker also experienced the best strike rate of his career, scoring thirteen times in just twenty-eight games. As a result, he was the league's joint-second top-scorer, tied with Zürich teammate Shaun Bartlett. Despite this success, Patrick left the club at the end of the season to rejoin Grasshopper Club Zürich. In what was becoming a familiar pattern in de Napoli's career, he only stayed at Grasshoppers for a year before moving on again. 1999–2000 saw Grasshoppers finish fourth with de Napoli scoring once in eleven games. He left the club midway through the season to join the first foreign club of his career, German 1999–2000 2. Fußball-Bundesliga strugglers Karlsruher SC, who were then managed by future Germany national team boss Joachim Löw. The forward made his debut for Karlsruher SC in a 0–0 draw with Rot-Weiß Oberhausen on 9 February 2000. De Napoli fractured his thumb soon after joining the club, and missed matches in March 2000. He played twelve of Karlsruher SC's thirty-four league games, scoring once, in a 3–1 loss to Chemnitzer FC on 9 April 2000. However, this wasn't enough to save Karlsruher SC who were relegated at the end of the season, having won just once in de Napoli's twelve appearances. Avoiding dropping down to the German third division, de Napoli returned to Switzerland to rejoin FC Aarau. FC Aarau and Young Boys De Napoli had enjoyed one of the best years of his career with Aarau in 1996–97, and he again experienced a return to form after rejoining the Aargau-based club. He scored six times in twenty-four appearances in the 2000–01 Nationalliga A as Aarau finished ninth in the regular season and second in the relegation/promotion play-offs. He again established himself as a first-team regular in 2001–02, playing thirty-four of Aarau's thirty-six games. However, he only managed four goals and Aarau were eventually relegated by just one goal, although they were later re-promoted due to FC Lausanne not obtaining a license. The 2002–03 Nationalliga A went better for both player and club as FC Aarau preserved their top-flight status and de Napoli netted thirteen times in thirty-two games. De Napoli's goal tally included vital strikes that ultimately kept them up, scoring in a 1–1 draw with BSC Young Boys, a 2–1 away win over FC Zürich and in a 2–1 victory against FC Lugano. He also scored a