Napoli Already Had Gila and Gabriel Jesus

Good evening, Napoli supporters, this is Napoli Tonight for Friday 11 September.

Claudio Pugliese, Napoli's Primavera goalkeeper from Scampia, is on course for his first Serie A squad call-up. Scans at the Pineta Grande Hospital have confirmed Wednesday's Arsenal injuries: a low-grade adductor tear for Meret, and a mid-grade hamstring tear for Alisson Santos. With Meret sidelined, Vanja Milinkovic-Savic is now first choice after replacing him at half-time, and Pugliese is set to take a bench place behind him and second-choice Nikita Contini against Bologna on Sunday.

There's better news in attack. Noa Lang is back in the squad after apologising to head coach Allegri and his teammates, following the training-ground row that saw him dropped for the Arsenal game. His path back was helped along by injuries elsewhere: Alisson Santos is now out, and Giovane remains sidelined after groin surgery. Lang gets his first chance to reclaim a starting shirt on Sunday, though Neres is nearing his best form too.

Now here's the story that should really sting. Napoli didn't just miss out on Gila and Gabriel Jesus this window, they had both players already signed before budget rules forced the club to walk away. Gila went to Milan instead, already proving his worth while Napoli's defence has shipped five goals in their last two league games. Gabriel Jesus ended up at Barcelona, and has already scored in the Champions League, the competition where Napoli, the same night, couldn't manage a single corner against Arsenal. Romelu Lukaku went the same way, released on a gross eleven million euros for the same reason. This is not the usual window grumbling about missed targets. These were done deals, undone by UEFA's financial parameters, breached after two expensive windows that didn't always spend wisely. Napoli sit twelfth with three points after three rounds, on the back of three straight defeats.

That game is against Bologna, at the Maradona, kicking off at six o'clock CET. Bologna arrive fifteenth, still without a win under new coach Tedesco, but they fought back from two goals down against Sassuolo last time out, so this is no free point.

That's Napoli Tonight for tonight. Every story, in full, at arenarete dot com slash napoli slash e n. Back tomorrow evening at eight o'clock CET.