De Laurentiis and Rizzetta push Napoli-Roma off the front pages

Napoli host Roma at the Maradona on Saturday 24 October at 18:00 CET (17:00 UK, 12:00 ET). The club has called the game the second test for Massimiliano Allegri. Yet Friday's papers were mostly about something else: the meeting on Thursday 22 October between Aurelio De Laurentiis and Matt Rizzetta, and what Napoli are worth.

Two versions of one meeting

Il Mattino gives the president the floor in an interview. De Laurentiis confirms he met Rizzetta and shuts the door in the headline: "I met Rizzetta, but I'm not selling."

The Corriere della Sera takes the same line. It profiles Rizzetta as the Italian-American who relaunched basketball and who, according to the paper, dreams of owning Napoli. That piece also ends with De Laurentiis saying "I'm not selling."

La Repubblica tells it differently. Its headline has Napoli up for sale, and a summit with figures and a counter-offer. Rizzetta is holding at €1.3bn and De Laurentiis wants €2bn. According to the paper, the president offered a minority stake and Rizzetta turned it down. Then it flips the roles: "Now it's Rizzetta who is playing hard to get." The same paper also reports the club's position: Napoli are not for sale.

Sky Sport sits in the middle and calms things down. It describes a coffee at a hotel, two days after the invitation to the Maradona, and a courtesy meeting. Sky gives a figure too: Napoli are worth at least €2bn.

That is the contradiction worth noting. Sky calls it a courtesy, Repubblica calls it a negotiation with offers and refusals. And the "I'm not selling" in Il Mattino sits badly with the minority stake that Repubblica says was put on the table. Selling everything and selling a part are different things, but neither is an unconditional no.

The match

On the football, the Corriere dello Sport says Allegri is heading for a 4-3-3 with three doubts. Rrahmani could be rested, Olivera is in a straight fight for his place, and Lobotka is pushing to play. Badiashile is also in contention for a start.

The same paper says Vergara is back in full training and likely to make the squad. As recently as Wednesday he had trained with his teammates for only half the session. Tuttosport looks at De Bruyne as the deep-lying playmaker, under a two-sided headline: "He almost suffers it, but there he is unplayable."

Our view

The papers are right to set the versions side by side. The distance between "I'm not selling" and a minority stake offered and turned down is the real story, and the club should speak plainly about it rather than leave it to leaks.

What is missing is the question that matters to the people who go to the stadium: what would change for the team, for the January window, and for a coach whose job is tied to one match.

I met Rizzetta, but I'm not selling

Napoli are ninth and host a Roma side seven points better off, and Allegri has a lot riding on it. €2bn makes headlines, but the verdict on the season will be shaped at the Maradona on Saturday at 18:00, and pages of predicted line-ups will not be enough.