Allegri defends Højlund's numbers before Frosinone

Massimiliano Allegri used numbers, not words, to answer weeks of criticism over Højlund and De Bruyne's performances with their national teams. Speaking before Napoli-Frosinone, he said: "Hojlund has played 5 games and scored 2 goals: if he continued like that, he'd reach 16-18 goals by the end of the season. He wasn't playing badly." Between 1 and 4 October, the Danish striker had scored twice for Denmark, in the same days De Bruyne returned to Castel Volturno (the training ground) smiling after a brace for Belgium.

Projecting 16-18 goals from a five-game sample sits awkwardly against the reality of a Napoli side ninth in the table with 7 points from seven games: one player's numbers for his country don't change a record built on two wins, a draw and two defeats. There's also a contract detail hanging over Højlund: an €85m release clause that Leipzig can only trigger from June 2027. Defending him now, with Champions League opponents Villarreal already on the horizon and a rotation with Lucca through the calendar's most congested month, also serves Allegri's aim of shielding the dressing room before Frosinone.