Napoli convince Allegri to weigh Lucca, Lang exits

Napoli's board has reportedly talked Massimiliano Allegri round to a different plan for the attack. Instead of signing another forward over the summer, as the head coach wanted, they convinced him to consider selling one of Lorenzo Lucca or Noa Lang. The feeling inside the club is that at least one of the two will leave.

Gatti was the first choice

The defence tells a similar story. Before settling on Benoît Badiashile, Napoli explored deals for both Mario Gila and Federico Gatti over the summer, working on a specific structure with Juventus for the latter. Both moves fell through — but Gatti, not Badiashile, was reportedly Allegri's preferred option, and the head coach is said to be weighing a return to a back three regardless.

Badiashile joined from Chelsea on a paid loan with an option, not an obligation, to buy: convince Napoli and he stays, fail to and he goes back to London. So far he has played just 10 minutes, coming on late in the 3-2 defeat to Inter. With Sam Beukema out since the start of the season with an Achilles tendon injury, competition for a place as a wide centre-back also includes Mathías Olivera and captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo, both able to fill in there.

Two renewals, one problem

There is a contract update the club's own circle reportedly did not know about: Luca Marianucci has already signed his extension, with only the official announcement still to come — the same situation Amir Rrahmani was in, having signed as far back as May.

André-Frank Anguissa's case is different, and trickier. Talks over his renewal remain complicated, with no sign of an agreement at the figures he is asking, and Napoli have no recognised backup in his role. That has raised the idea of signing his eventual replacement as early as January, so the club are not caught short if Anguissa leaves for free when his contract expires on 30 June 2027.

All of this carries a heavy dose of the conditional. A reinforcement-minded window in January would make most sense if Napoli are still in the top four by then. Right now they are ninth with 7 points from 5 games, 6 points behind Roma, Inter and Lazio, who are level on 13. Weighing a top-four push that is currently a long way off, while at the same time discussing sales of the very forwards a title-chasing squad should be trying to keep, points to a club reacting to events rather than shaping them.

The winter window opens on 2 January and closes on 2 February — but before any of that, Napoli have to deliver on the pitch. They are back in action on Saturday 10 October at 20:45 CET at the Maradona against Frosinone, with Anguissa still a doubt after a recurrence of his right adductor problem in recent weeks.