Napoli pay for a summer without a striker as a tired squad runs out of road

Napoli's summer signings come down to two names: Badiashile and Favasuli. As of Tuesday 10 November, both are injured. Badiashile has a rectus femoris problem and is due back in December. Favasuli is aiming to return for the Torino game.

That gap shows every weekend. Højlund has 3 goals in 13 appearances and none in the Champions League. Lucca has yet to score. Against Lazio, all six shots on target were saved, and the equaliser was Pedraza's own goal. A side that creates chances but cannot finish them needed exactly that signing. It is the only one that did not arrive.

A board choice that made sense on paper

In June the club's line was clear: sell and trim. The aim was to cut costs, thin out an overcrowded squad and get back within UEFA's financial parameters, while publicly backing the group. For the accounts, it was a legitimate choice.

But anyone who said over the summer that a cycle had ended, and that the group was worn out in certain players and in several respects, was written off as a pessimist. It is time to admit they saw further than most.

The first months have proved it. First came the bad blood. In Porto, Lucca insulted De Bruyne. Politano asked that the ones sent out to explain things should be "not always us Italians". Lang answered the Maradona's whistles with a finger to his ear.

Then the injuries: Di Lorenzo; Lobotka, out for around six weeks; Buongiorno, who had knee surgery on his meniscus and is expected back in January; Neres and Spinazzola.

Above all, the results: 7 defeats in 15 matches. The low point was the 4-1 at the Dragão, Porto's ground. All three of Porto's second-half goals came through players brought off the bench. Napoli's first substitution came in the 78th minute.

January is not just a shopping list

Aurelio De Laurentiis has approved winter signings, and Giovanni Manna is working on the midfield, with Coulibaly the priority. Players will go too: Lang is heading for a sale and Lucca for a loan.

But that is not the real point. Changing two or three names will not restore freshness to a dressing room that resented even the training retreat at Pozzuoli. The uncomfortable question is who decided in June that this group was enough, and who answers for it now. Whoever builds the squad answers for the squad. Whoever coaches it answers for how it is managed, and in Porto the decisions from the bench came late.

Meanwhile, the window does not reopen until 2 January, and until then the club can only sign free agents. So this group, tiredness and all, has to face Torino at the Maradona on Saturday 21 November at 20:45 CET (19:45 UK, 14:45 ET), then Manchester City on 24 November and Sassuolo on 29 November.

Napoli are 9 points off fourth place, the target Allegri has set.

Reinforcements will come in January. November's games have to be played with the squad Napoli have now.