McTominay Faces Fitness Test On 6 October

Good evening, Napoli supporters, this is Napoli Tonight for Friday 2 October.

Tuesday the sixth of October is the date to watch. That's when Scott McTominay takes the fitness test that decides whether he can play again. He has been out since heart ablation surgery in England on 8 September, returned to gym work on 29 September, and has trained with the group again in recent days. Clear the test, and the turnaround is tight: he could be back on the bench four days later, when Napoli host Frosinone at 20:45 CET on Saturday 10 October at the Maradona. Miss it, and his return slides to the Champions League trip to Villarreal or the league game at Venezia.

Friday's papers cannot agree on what happens next. Repubblica and Il Mattino write him in as recovering in time for Frosinone, the latter calling him a quality ace up Allegri's sleeve. TuttoMercatoWeb reports the opposite: that Napoli are already lining up a sale, as early as June, with the capital gain in mind. Two opposite stories about the same player, printed on the same day.

Our view: a midfielder who scored twenty-seven goals in his first two seasons at the club does not usually become transfer gossip in the same week he is fighting to get fit. Elsewhere, Marianucci and Rrahmani have reportedly agreed renewals, while Meret and Lobotka's cases stay open, Lobotka's eased by a clause already in his contract. Legitimate stories, all of them, but still nobody writing today about the protests against De Laurentiis, or what the club plans to do about them on the pitch, not just on paper.

That paperwork matters more because of where Napoli actually are: ninth in Serie A on 7 points from 5 rounds, their worst start in a decade. The national security observatory has now classified Saturday's Frosinone game risk 3, with extra stewarding ordered inside the Maradona. It is the backdrop to a match Allegri's side need to win in front of their own fans.

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.