Papers split on De Bruyne's future as Napoli sit 10th

Napoli are tenth with 15 points, nine off fourth place, and have not won in three matches. The papers on Saturday 14 November still looked almost entirely at the January window. De Bruyne dominated the coverage, and not because there was anything new about him. The outlets simply said opposite things about his future.

Tuttosport says the opposite. In its version, the club and the player are considering parting ways six months early, and PSV have already contacted the Belgian's representatives.

Sky Sport sits in between, as its headline makes clear: "Napoli don't want to lose him, but nobody in midfield is untouchable". TuttoMercatoWeb focuses on the money, with the headline "€20m for one outlay, never again deals like that".

That makes three versions in a single day: one says a deal is being negotiated, one says the club will hold firm, one says the club regrets the outlay.

Up front

Corriere dello Sport sees two options in attack. In the first, Giovanni Manna is weighing a loan for Zirkzee from Manchester United as an alternative to Varela. The paper notes that the Dutchman has played just 186 minutes and stresses that, for now, there is only interest. On Varela, TuttoMercatoWeb headlines the "shock price" Monza are asking, but does not put a figure in the headline.

In the second option, according to the same paper, Napoli would try to sell three forwards in January: Lang, Lucca and Neres. There are said to be enquiries from Brazil for Neres.

Contracts

TuttoMercatoWeb has McTominay heading for the exit. He is unlikely to stay beyond the summer, and he earns €4m net while reportedly asking for around €7m. The same site says the club will meet Meret's representatives before the end of the year to discuss a new deal.

Tuttosport, like Repubblica, sees a renewal for Anguissa as a long way off and says the midfielder could leave as early as January. Napoli are said to be willing to listen to offers for three senior players whose contracts are running out, and to be looking for a central midfielder, with Monaco's Coulibaly the front-runner.

Only Corriere dello Sport writes about the pitch. Neres and Favasuli are training partly with the squad at Castel Volturno (the training ground) and could be in the squad for Torino on Saturday 21 November. Spinazzola needs more time. So on the same day, the same paper lists Neres both as a player returning for the weekend and as one to sell in January. It is not a contradiction, but it says a lot about where this team now stands.

"Napoli are not open to it at the moment"

Our view

On one thing the papers are right: this squad has to be at least partly broken up, and the contracts of Anguissa, Meret and De Bruyne make that unavoidable. But put Saturday's pieces side by side and they only talk about who leaves, who arrives and how much they want. Nobody asks how a team built to be near the top is tenth, nine points off fourth.

The window reopens on 2 January. Before that come Torino, Manchester City and Sassuolo, and Massimiliano Allegri and whoever built this squad answer for those games, not Zirkzee. If De Bruyne really is the cornerstone, the club should say whether it wants to keep him. As long as it stays silent, the papers are the ones deciding.