Allegri weighs recall of Neres-Højlund pairing after goal drought

Napoli's problem in the opening five matchdays is going forward: the play has been disjointed, short of fluency, and disconnected from Rasmus Højlund. Rather than search for something new, Massimiliano Allegri is considering a return to a proven formula from last season — recalling David Neres and Højlund together from kick-off.

With Neres now fully available again, Allegri wants his unpredictability to feed the Danish striker. In midfield, the job of sparking the attack in the number 10 role would fall to Kevin De Bruyne, who impressed in Belgium's last Nations League outing against Italy.

That the answer lies in a pairing already tested, rather than one of the signings brought in over the summer, says a lot about the state of Napoli's attack. Lorenzo Lucca, signed from Udinese for €35m, has yet to convince — so much so that the club is already weighing another loan for January and watching Udinese's Davis as an alternative. Going back to Neres-Højlund effectively means admitting that the summer window did not fix the problem it was meant to solve after the Supercoppa.

The table tells the same story of urgency: Napoli are ninth with 7 points after 5 matchdays — 2 wins, 1 draw, 2 defeats, 7 goals scored and 6 conceded — Opta's worst start to a season for the club in ten years. The last two league games produced just enough to stay in touch with the top: a 1-0 win over Bologna through Lobotka, then a 1-1 draw at Fiorentina, opened by Gilmour in the 23rd minute and levelled by Jiménez in the 51st.

The test comes in two weeks, on Saturday 10 October at 20:45 CET (19:45 UK, 14:45 ET) at the Maradona against Frosinone: that is where it will become clear whether the restored partnership is enough to bring goals and fluency back to an attack that has produced too few of either so far. First, though, there is also the Champions League trip to Villarreal on Tuesday 13 October — another test for a plan Allegri appears ready to deploy beyond the league alone.