Napoli lose three wide players for Frosinone, Politano in doubt

Three injuries from international duty hit Napoli's flanks three days before Saturday's match at the Maradona, and Allegri is also weighing whether to rest Politano ahead of a packed week against Villarreal and Venezia.

by Gennaro SanninoWednesday 7 October, 13:18 CET· 2 hours ago

Favasuli, Olivera e Vergara ai box: il Napoli perde tre esterni per il Frosinone, dubbio Politano — Grafica Arena Napoli

Three absences on the flanks, three days out from Frosinone — and the doubt now stretches even to a player who isn't usually left out. Favasuli, Olivera and Vergara are all out with injuries picked up on international duty, and head coach Allegri is also considering resting Politano. It is the snapshot of a Napoli side ninth in the table with 7 points from 5 games, who must return to winning ways in Serie A at the Maradona on Saturday at 20:45 CET (19:45 UK), after the draw in Florence.

Favasuli was struck down on duty with Italy Under-21: his absence is expected to last six weeks, with a return pencilled in for mid-to-late November. Olivera suffered a groin injury in training with Uruguay in India and is a doubt for Frosinone. Vergara, after being substituted during Italy-Turkey, has a medium-grade strain to his right soleus: he will miss Frosinone, Villarreal and the trip to Venezia.

Vergara's absence weighs heaviest, because Roberto Mancini has just pointed to him as the national team's winger of the future.

I hope he is our right winger for the next few years

Mancini said after the midfielder's performance against Turkey — a different role to the one Allegri had planned for him in the summer, as a central midfielder.

With three wide players sidelined, the solution is Neres, who is improving and a candidate to start: he can play on the right, where he is more effective, or shift to the left. In that case, the man making way would be Noa Lang, who has been short of impact so far: four appearances, 184 minutes and no goals this season, while his price tag for January remains set at €20m.

On the other flank, not even Politano is guaranteed a start. The vice-captain is heading into a run of tight fixtures — Frosinone, then Villarreal in the Champions League, then Venezia and Bodø/Glimt — and Allegri is weighing whether to stop picking him every time: he could start from the bench on Saturday, or in one of the games that follow.

The picture overlaps with the emergency already open in defence, where Allegri is considering Badiashile as an auxiliary left-back precisely because of Olivera and Favasuli's absences — a Napoli side having to reinvent parts of the team with a threadbare squad, just as the table demands results, not forced experiments.

The countdown has already begun: Saturday 10 October, 20:45, at the Maradona, Napoli-Frosinone opens a packed run of three games that closes on 20 October with Napoli-Bodø/Glimt, via Villarreal on 13 October. Allegri will decide who sits on the bench in the hours ahead.