De Laurentiis arrives for Napoli crisis talks as Allegri faces growing scrutiny

NAPLES, ITALY - DECEMBER 12: Aurelio De Laurentiis SSC Napoli President during the UEFA Champions League match between SCC Napoli and SC Braga at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on December 12, 2023 in Naples, Italy. (Photo by Francesco Pecoraro/Getty Images)

Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis has recently arrived at Napoli’s training ground for a series of crisis talks with head coach Massimiliano Allegri, his staff and players after a troubling period that has seen the team lose seven of their first 14 matches of the 2026-27 season. 

Napoli have recorded back-to-back defeats over the course of the last week, away against Juventus and then a 4-1 hammering away against Porto in the Champions League. 

This means that Allegri has now lost seven of his first 14 matches in charge of Napoli, leaving them in eighth place in the Serie A table and already 14 points off the league leaders after 10 games of the season. They find themselves in 27th place in the Champions League table with three points after four matches and are currently at risk of missing out on qualification for the knock-out rounds. 

To make matters worse after the Porto loss, Matteo Politano painted a damning image of the state of the Napoli dressing room when he accused some of his senior teammates of not taking enough accountability, Kevin De Bruyne and Lorenzo Lucca were seen rowing with each other on the pitch and newspapers the following morning criticised a ‘divided’ squad that is supposedly breaking out into cliques.  

Their next opportunity to redeem themselves will not be a particularly easy encounter either: At home against the Serie A leaders, Lazio, who have won all five of their away league matches so far this season. 

The Napoli squad arrived for training on Friday morning and will remain together until their game against Lazio on Sunday. 

Club President De Laurentiis has recently arrived at the training ground, according to reports from Gianluca Di Marzio, and will speak to the team and their head coach as he tries to get to the bottom of the current crisis.