Napoli President De Laurentiis puts temporary trust in Allegri after face-to-face talks
Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis has put his trust in head coach Massimiliano Allegri for the time being following a round of crisis talks at the training ground on Friday, which came after a troubling start to the 2026-27 season that has brought seven defeats from the first 14 matches.
Allegri still has De Laurentiis’s trust after Napoli crisis talks
It’s fair to say that Napoli have not quite got going since Allegri replaced Antonio Conte as head coach over the summer. They find themselves in eighth place in Serie A, already 14 points behind the league leaders after 10 matches, and are at serious risk of missing out on qualification to the Champions League knock-out rounds after losing three of their first four games in Europe in 2026-27.
Adding to the tension after a 4-1 hammering against Porto earlier this week, Matteo Politano accused some of his senior, non-Italian teammates of not taking enough accountability, whilst Kevin De Bruyne and Lorenzo Lucca were seen arguing with each other on the pitch.
There have also been reports towards the end of the week suggesting that there is a divided dressing room in Naples, that some players are too individualistic and that others have broken off into small cliques.
Napoli are now heading into another tough test on Sunday, at home against the Serie A leaders Lazio, who have won all five of their away matches in the league so far this season.
Ahead of the Lazio clash, Napoli have gone into a two-day long training camp and owner/President De Laurentiis has travelled to the club’s training ground to hold a series of face-to-face talks with Allegri, his staff and the players.
According to Saturday’s reports from La Gazzetta dello Sport, De Laurentiis spoke with Allegri directly, as well as with sporting director Giovanni Manna and with the squad themselves.
As things stand, Allegri still has De Laurentiis’s trust and the coach has not been issued with any form of ultimatum heading into the Lazio game.
There are still several issues to address, though, including the alarming number of defeats, Napoli’s habit of conceding goals in the final half hour of matches and the growing number of injuries that has impacted the team’s start to the season.
