Alvino uses Favasuli injury to rebut Napoli's 'too old' theory

On Radio Kiss Kiss Napoli, Carlo Alvino says fixture congestion — not an ageing squad — is driving Napoli's injuries, with Costantino Favasuli's strain as his latest exhibit.

by Gennaro SanninoSunday 4 October, 19:45 CET· 3 hours ago

Alvino usa l'infortunio di Favasuli per smontare la tesi della rosa troppo vecchia — Grafica Arena Napoli

Carlo Alvino has turned Costantino Favasuli's injury into a weapon against a theory that has followed every Napoli injury for months. On Radio Kiss Kiss Napoli, the journalist used the case of the club's number 2 — who came back to Naples after being ruled out of the Italy Under-21 squad's camp, where a muscle strain was then confirmed — to knock down the idea that Napoli get hurt mainly because the squad is old.

"Costantino Favasuli isn't over 30, he's an under-21, so even this fairy tale that 'they get injured because they're all old, over 30' falls down too. I'm taking this injury to give a virtual slap to the flood of nonsense we've had to put up with for months," Alvino said.

He then widened the argument to what he sees as the real cause of football's physical toll today: not the players' age, but the packed schedule. "Regardless of age, of preparation, of the pitches you train on, this constant stress leads to more injuries than in the past," he said.

A full treatment room regardless of age

The debate lands while Napoli's injury list stays long whatever the player's age. Alisson will miss both the Frosinone game and the Champions League trip to Villarreal, with a return pencilled in for 17 October. Anguissa is a doubt with a recurring adductor problem. Badiashile has played just 10 minutes all season, and Beukema has missed five matchdays without making his debut yet — a list that undercuts, in practice, the reading Alvino is arguing against.

Napoli go into this debate ninth in the table, on 7 points from five matchdays, with two good results in a row since the draw in Florence. The long international break gave Massimiliano Allegri time to work with the players who stayed behind at Castel Volturno (the training ground), ahead of the restart on Saturday 10 October, when Napoli host Frosinone at the Maradona.

Whether the cause is age or the calendar, Allegri's problem is the same: a decimated department six matchdays in, with names like Favasuli who shouldn't even feature in a conversation about experienced players. Alvino shifts the debate from birth certificates to physical workload, but the team keeps turning up to fixtures with the same gaps in the team sheet.