Papers split over Napoli sale talk two days before Roma

The papers on Thursday 22 October are about who owns Napoli, not about the football. Napoli host Roma at the Maradona on Saturday 24 October at 18:00 CET (17:00 UK, 12:00 ET). The club has called it the second test for Massimiliano Allegri, after the hard-fought 4-3 against Bodø/Glimt. Instead, the coverage is about Aurelio De Laurentiis, Rizzetta and a ten-figure number, and the papers do not agree on what is going on.

Talks or a courtesy call

Sky Sport also reports the meeting at a hotel in the city centre and a valuation of at least €2bn. It describes the meeting as a courtesy, though. The two sides are still talking, but they remain far apart on what the club is worth.

So the two accounts contradict each other. Repubblica calls it a negotiation and Sky calls it a courtesy. Between the asking price and the offer, there is a €700m gap.

What came before

Il Mattino covers what happened earlier. Rizzetta sat in the directors' box at the Maradona for the Bodø/Glimt game as the president's guest. The paper mentions a possible lunch in the coming days and says the talks could reopen.

Il Mattino adds that De Laurentiis did not watch the game from the stands. He followed it on television from a private room and met the squad before kick-off, at half-time and after the final whistle. The paper also describes a dinner with Allegri and Giovanni Manna after the defeat at Venezia. According to its account, the president threatened a punitive training camp and the coach reassured him.

The football

Corriere dello Sport covers the pitch. Against Roma, Allegri is considering three changes: Lobotka as the holding midfielder, plus Badiashile and Olivera. The formation and De Bruyne's role are still undecided. The same paper says an agreement with the Province of Trento to keep the training camp at Dimaro until 2029 is close, with an announcement expected soon.

TuttoMercatoWeb is already looking ahead to January. It reports that Noa Lang could leave Napoli, with Ajax and PSV the options for a return to the Netherlands. Lang stopped his warm-up in protest at Venezia, so the news surprises no one.

Our view

The papers are right about one thing: ownership is the real story. But the tone reads like a stock-market report, full of billions, coffees and hotels, and it does not fit a Napoli side in ninth place. They are nine points behind Inter and face a Roma team seven points better off on Saturday.

Not one of these accounts includes a word from the club about a possible multi-billion sale. That silence matters more than any figure.

In the same week, the president spent a Champions League night in the dressing room, threatened a training camp and had coffee with a man who wants to buy the club. The squad is getting mixed messages, and no paper is asking who is really deciding Napoli's future.