From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Antonio Vergara
48 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Napoli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Napoli will try again when the window opens; Hellas Verona may not be selling by then.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 7 in, 6 out at Napoli
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 7 arrived, 6 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market7 Sep 2026
David Neres wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Napoli hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Market7 Sep 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Napoli have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Napoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amir Rrahmani is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Napoli
Mathías Olivera was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad7 Sep 2026
International break empties Napoli
6 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 39. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The offer went to Hellas Verona this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Market31 Aug 2026
Sassuolo pay $40.4M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market31 Aug 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Salvatore Pignarosa had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Squad31 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Napoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match29 Aug 2026
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Giovane had Napoli level again within 4 minutes, and Cagliari never got to play with a lead at all.
Match29 Aug 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Gianmarco Russo was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Napoli dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Juventus have kept their man, and Napoli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match22 Aug 2026
No mercy from Napoli
Cremonese will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Napoli were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Napoli offered $23.1M; Juventus said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Dinis Rodrigues had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.35, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market24 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Napoli have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Napoli
Matteo Politano and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
In brief
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Boardroom
4 academy graduates step up at Napoli
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The terraces
The crowd has taken to Rasmus Højlund
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Squad
Words at Napoli training over how hard people work
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
The paperwork is done: Lewis Hall joins from Newcastle United in a deal worth $61.4M. Now comes the harder part.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Napoli asked and Manchester City said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
$43.4M was the most the club would pay and Barcelona were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Market17 Aug 2026
Napoli say no — this time
The offer from Palermo for Alessandro Buongiorno was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market17 Aug 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Milton Pereyra had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Lewis Hall gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Lewis Hall has just signed for Napoli, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad17 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Napoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
Napoli spend $61.4M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $61.4M for Lewis Hall, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Napoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amir Rrahmani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The offer went to Atalanta this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Market10 Aug 2026
Napoli say no — this time
The offer from Fiorentina for Rasmus Højlund was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Dani Ceballos arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Dani Ceballos has, at Napoli, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Scott McTominay commits to Napoli for another 5 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Napoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Scott McTominay is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Napoli
Giovanni Di Lorenzo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Market10 Aug 2026
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Alisson Santos wants continental football; whether Napoli can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Market10 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Napoli have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Napoli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
An offer of $53.9M for Lewis Hall
Napoli have gone to Newcastle United with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Napoli asked and Brentford said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market3 Aug 2026
Napoli say no — this time
The offer from Inter for Stanislav Lobotka was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market3 Aug 2026
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Kevin De Bruyne commits to Napoli for another 1 years.
Market3 Aug 2026
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Scott McTominay falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Napoli
Giovanni Di Lorenzo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market3 Aug 2026
36 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.