Napoli reportedly weighing Geneva talks with Aponte family over 70,000-seat stadium

The idea of a new Napoli stadium is back, with a name attached and a city: Geneva. The hypothesis is a meeting between Aurelio De Laurentiis and the Aponte family: shipping magnate Gianluigi Aponte and his children Alexa and Diego. The starting point would be an MSC Arena or an MSC Stadium. For now the summit is speculation, not an official club appointment.

MSC is already Napoli's main sponsor until 2029. The deal is worth €18m a season. It was renewed this summer at a figure far above the previous €8.5m. Naming the stadium would be the next step in a relationship that already exists. De Laurentiis would need a partner who comes into the project at the front, alongside the club.

The Aponte name has now come up twice in a matter of hours in our coverage of the club's future. Diego Aponte was also being mentioned as a possible figure for the post-De Laurentiis era. We do not confuse the two questions: a new stadium is one thing, who runs Napoli is another. But it is fair to ask the club to be clear on both, because so far the details arrive in pieces and never from the people who decide.

Supporters, meanwhile, are looking elsewhere. Napoli are 10th with 11 points after eight games. They have just thrown away a 2-0 lead against Roma and have conceded seven goals in their last three matches. Talk of 70,000 seats while the team cannot protect a lead at the Maradona can feel like another world, and understandably so. A project like this is measured in years. The league table is measured in days.

Napoli play Monza at the U-Power Stadium on Wednesday 28 October at 20:45 CET (19:45 UK, 14:45 ET), and that is where the fanbase wants answers. As for Geneva, we are waiting for a hypothetical meeting to become a fact. We also want December, the month of the decision on the site, to bring something more concrete than a name for the scoreboard.