Six youth players join Napoli squad for Juventus and Porto trips
With seven first-team players out, Pereyra, Baridò, Chiummariello, Melnyk, Lieto and Pugliese are needed to make up the numbers in training.
Six players from the Primavera (Napoli's youth side) will travel with the first team. Pereyra, Baridò, Chiummariello, Melnyk, Lieto and Pugliese will miss the Primavera 2 (the second tier of the youth league) away game at Monopoli. Their coach, Nocerino, has left them out of his squad.
They join the senior group from Sunday 1 November. The first stop is Turin, where they will train with the squad ahead of Juventus-Napoli at the Allianz Stadium, which kicks off at 20:45 CET (19:45 UK, 14:45 ET). From there the group goes to Portugal for Porto-Napoli on Wednesday 4 November, and the Youth League (UEFA's youth competition) game is there too.
Read also Lobotka out for six weeks as Allegri admits Napoli must defend better
The reason is the injury list. Alisson Santos, Neres, Buongiorno, Favasuli, Badiashile, Spinazzola and Lobotka are all out. Lobotka was stretchered off at Monza. In defence, Rrahmani is still a doubt after a knock to the sternum.
Needing six youth players just to get enough bodies on the training pitch says a lot about this squad. Napoli are unbeaten in three and sit seventh on 14 points. A win in Turin would take them past Juventus, who have the same total.
The six are unlikely to get minutes against Juventus. But the trip lasts five days and covers two games, so they could be needed sooner than expected.
Source: Notizie Napoli Calcio
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