De Bruyne splits the Napoli dressing room after 4-1 defeat in Porto

Napoli's dressing room is split, and Kevin De Bruyne is at the centre of it. The 4-1 defeat at the Dragão left more to explain than a scoreline.

Accounts from inside the squad describe a De Bruyne who can be arrogant and quick to criticise teammates. There have been arguments in training too.

In Porto, the friction reached the pitch. There was the clash with Lucca, which we have already covered, but also run-ins with Rrahmani and Politano. Until that night the tension had stayed inside Castel Volturno (the training ground). The Dragão put it on public display.

After the Champions League defeat, Politano's comments also pointed to a divide between the Italian and foreign players. He is the vice-captain, and on the eve of the game he was the one who said:

"We keep falling back into the same mistakes."

The worst possible moment

The rift comes at the lowest point of the season. A 2-0 defeat at the Allianz Stadium was followed by the 4-1 in Porto, Napoli's third defeat in four European games. In Serie A they are eighth on 14 points, nine short of the top-four target Allegri set himself.

After Turin, Aurelio De Laurentiis had already confronted the squad face to face over their attitude. Now he has ordered a ritiro, the Italian practice of locking the squad away in a hotel. The players are expected to check into the Gli Dei hotel in Pozzuoli at 19:00 CET on Friday 6 November and stay there until the Lazio game.

Who should have said no

The awkward question is simple: who should have said no to De Bruyne, and why did nobody do it? Everyone has a share of the blame. The coach answers for what happens in training and on the pitch, and in Porto it happened in front of everyone. Whoever built this squad answers for the balance they constructed around a star who, for his teammates, is now more of a burden than a help.

A club that cannot manage one player in four months has a problem that two nights in a hotel will not fix.

There is also a fact nobody can ignore. De Bruyne's contract expires in June 2027, as do those of Meret and Anguissa. A rift like this, with a player eight months from the end of his deal, turns a dressing-room issue into a question about the future. On that future, the club has so far said nothing.

Lazio without the Belgian

De Bruyne will miss Sunday 8 November's game against Lazio at the Maradona, kick-off 12:30 CET (11:30 UK, 06:30 ET), with the ankle sprain he picked up on 1 November.

Everything else will be there. The injury list runs from Di Lorenzo to Lobotka and from Neres to Buongiorno, Marianucci is suspended, and the league leaders have 28 points, exactly double Napoli's total.

The Lazio game will not settle who was right, De Bruyne or his teammates. It will show whether this group managed to become a team again in Pozzuoli.