Allegri promises Lucca playing time, test starts Saturday

The head coach backs the €35m signing from Udinese despite zero goals this season, just as an injury list in defence and midfield turns a promise into a necessity before Frosinone and the Champions League trip to Villarreal.

by Gennaro SanninoFriday 9 October, 21:10 CET· 2 hours ago

Massimiliano Allegri — Foto: Original: Quirinale / Derivative work: Danyele · Attribution

Massimiliano Allegri cut off weeks of questions with four words: "Lucca will get space." The head coach paired the promise with a pointed reminder of the money involved — "Napoli, to invest so much…" — leaving little doubt that a player bought for €35m cannot sit on the bench indefinitely.

Lucca will get space.

The number hanging over Lucca is blunt: zero goals this season, and just two in total since he joined Napoli from Udinese in the summer for €35m. The return has already stirred his entourage — agent Riso let a warning filter through — and revived Torino's interest in a loan move. Allegri's words read as a response to that pressure as much as a team-news update.

The international break gave Allegri room to work. With Castel Volturno (the training ground) hosting exactly the players who get the fewest minutes, Lucca among them, there was time to build fitness without matches piling up. Allegri used the window to plan a rotation with Højlund ahead of nine games in a month across Serie A and the Champions League — a schedule that cannot afford to leave a €35m centre-forward out of the rotation.

The test begins at the Maradona

The first chance comes on Saturday 10 October, at the Maradona against Frosinone, in Serie A's sixth round. Napoli sit ninth with seven points from five games and two unbeaten results in a row. The injury list is heavier in defence and midfield than in attack: Favasuli, Olivera and Vergara are out, Anguissa is a doubt, and McTominay is fit but could be managed with Villarreal in mind. In that context, a role for Lucca would not be a favour — it would be a tactical necessity that happens to match the need to get him going again.

Whether Allegri's words turn into a start or a substitute appearance is still unclear. Lucca has spent the season in the shadow of the first-choice forwards, and a public statement about the club's investment also looks like a way to ease the pressure from outside, not just to reassure the player. The league will not wait for declarations: after Frosinone comes Villarreal in the Champions League on Tuesday, and there the promised space will have to turn into actual minutes.