Press turns on Napoli's transfer business before Arsenal

The story dominating the papers on Tuesday 8 September isn't the team news for Wednesday's Champions League game against Arsenal, but the club's transfer business. La Repubblica leads the charge, running a run of critical pieces on three separate fronts in the same edition: the renewal of Di Lorenzo's contract, the McTominay case, and the signing of Badiashile.

On McTominay, sidelined with a heart arrhythmia, the paper presses further: "Did the doctor warn Napoli in time to bring the operation forward? And why didn't Manna buy another midfielder?" — devoting a separate piece to the Scot's situation.

On Badiashile, the criticism widens to the club's whole recruitment approach.

Napoli loves Premier League castoffs — if Manna's got the receipt, send it back to Chelsea.

Corriere dello Sport strikes a different note. Writing under Salvione's byline, it asks instead for patience: "Trust in Allegri! Napoli will improve with time." The headline runs directly against Repubblica's pressure, and the gap between the two readings is itself the news of the day.

Still on a single moment from the game at San Siro, Repubblica also singles out Alisson, writing that he "lost four balls off the sole of his boot", and suggesting Allegri could drop him from the starting eleven because of it.

Looking ahead to Wednesday, Il Mattino leads instead on the side that will face Arsenal: "Napoli start again with De Bruyne", naming the Belgian midfielder as the pivot of the Champions League game. Sky Sport adds a transfer detail on Olivera: according to its report, the full-back had wanted to leave Napoli, and his agent had already asked for a sale in January.

Our view

Repubblica's questions on McTominay and Badiashile touch a real nerve: after two defeats in three matches and a midfield already stretched thin, asking why the squad had no ready alternative is fair, and it's Manna's job to answer it. Folding Di Lorenzo's renewal into the same day is less convincing — a long contract signed only days ago, presented as a problem three days after a heavy defeat, reads more like a pile-on of general distrust than a targeted critique. What all these takes miss is the simplest thing: nobody has written a word yet about Arsenal, the one match that will actually decide anything from Wednesday night onward.