De Bruyne's return delayed four days as Allegri waited in vain

Kevin De Bruyne was suspended for Belgium's match against France, the game that closed out the international break. He could have returned to Castel Volturno, the club's training ground, four days early, where head coach Massimiliano Allegri was waiting to have him back. He didn't: he stayed with Belgium until the break ended, despite knowing he could not play.

It is not the first time the midfielder has taken this path. After last season's injury he disappeared for four months, and didn't even get in touch with his teammates when Napoli won the Italian Supercoppa, beating Bologna 2-0 on 22 December.

It is a tolerance the club has always extended him, regardless of the Belgian's past friction with the previous coaching staff: a player paid €6m a season might be expected to set an example, not keep his distance. Even his jabs at the way Napoli play — first under Antonio Conte, now under Allegri — have been absorbed without consequence, and even understood by a section of supporters.

His view is that the team should create the conditions to bring the best out of him, as happens with Belgium, not the other way round — he is not the one who should carry the group as a leader. It's a theory that can be shared, but it sits awkwardly with a team ninth in the table on 7 points from 5 games, having lost three of their first six matches this season across the league and the Champions League.

A midfield battle, and a dressing-room question

He is also at the centre of the midfield battle for a starting place: the minutes read 353 for De Bruyne against 162 for Vergara, with the younger player currently favoured for Saturday's game against Frosinone. During the days at Castel Volturno, Allegri has tried a 4-2-3-1 designed specifically to keep both of them on the pitch alongside Højlund, as well as a three-man defence with Di Lorenzo at centre-back. On Monday, president Aurelio De Laurentiis held an hour-long closed-door meeting with the coach to take stock of the start to the season — a context in which the patience shown towards one player, however good, carries more weight.

Frosinone arrive at the Maradona on Saturday already without two strikers, Raimondo and Birligea. Napoli must resolve not just the question of system, but also who leads the dressing room at the start of a season already marked by blown leads and dropped points. If De Bruyne remains the star to whom everything is forgiven, the question of why four days' delay didn't matter will still be open after kick-off.