Football Italia
·16 July 2024
Osimhen not even on Napoli bench in Conte’s first friendly
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Football Italia
·16 July 2024
Antonio Conte is overseeing his first friendly match as Napoli coach, but Victor Osimhen is not even on the bench and has been training separately.
The Azzurri take on local side Anaune Val di Non this afternoon as part of their pre-season preparations in the mountains of Dimaro.
When the line-up was originally announced to spectators, Osimhen was named on the bench, but it quickly emerged he was in fact in the stands.
A note from the club pointed out the striker has been working separately from the squad in training over the last few days due to fitness issues and is therefore “not at the disposal” of Conte.
Inevitably, this is also linked to the on-going reports of negotiations with Paris Saint-Germain for a transfer at below the €130m release clause.
Napoli hope to get a deal done over the next 10 days and might be tempted to lower the asking price to just over €100m.
Meanwhile, Conte set out his team in a 3-4-2-1 formation, starting new signings Rafa Marin and Leonardo Spinazzola, with Jesper Lindstrom and Matteo Politano supporting Giovanni Simeone.
Napoli: Caprile; Rafa Marin, Rrahmani, Juan Jesus; Mazzocchi, Anguissa, Cajuste, Spinazzola; Politano, Lindstrom; Simeone