Anguissa could leave in January after contract talks stalled in summer

Anguissa's contract talks did not break down this autumn. They stalled in the summer, and nobody has restarted them since.

The club has accepted it may lose him on a free in June. What is new is that it is considering not waiting. If a firm offer arrives in January, Napoli could get a fee for him instead of watching him leave for nothing seven months later, and could start rebuilding the midfield this season.

The same applies to De Bruyne, who has drawn interest from PSV among others. Allegri's two most valuable midfielders are both in the last year of their contracts, and both could go in the same window.

The sum nobody does out loud

Selling in January to fund new signings is a financial decision, and it can make sense: with De Bruyne, Anguissa and Neres on the market, Napoli would raise the money to act. But Anguissa is not surplus to requirements.

He started against Lazio on Sunday 8 November, in a side built with five midfielders because there were only three recognised defenders available. Lobotka is out with a left ankle injury until mid-December. Napoli are tenth on 15 points, nine behind fourth place, the target Allegri has set, and without a win in three games. Selling Anguissa now means taking a starter away from that team.

Allegri knows this, and he would want a replacement straight away. Giovanni Manna already has names: young players doing well in Italy or abroad who are on low wages. One is Darryl Bakola of Sassuolo, born in 2007. The other is Mamadou Coulibaly of Monaco.

The problem is the price. Both are already worth €30m or more, and Monaco want €50m for Coulibaly. Low wages help the payroll, but the fees are steep. And selling a player six months from the end of his contract will not bring in anything close to those figures.

So here is our question. If the talks stalled over wages as early as the summer, why did Napoli let an expiring contract run for months, only to end up having to sell in a hurry in January?

Wanting to change the midfield is not the mistake. With three senior players out of contract in June, that was always going to be necessary. The mistake is getting there in an emergency, buying a youngster at full price to replace a starter sold at a bargain.

Before January, though, there are games to play. Torino visit the Maradona on Saturday 21 November at 20:45 CET (19:45 UK, 14:45 ET), the first home game since the supporters' protest during the Lazio match. Then come Manchester City in the Champions League and Bakola's Sassuolo away at the Mapei. As long as Anguissa wears this shirt, Napoli need him in midfield.