Interestingly, Napoli sporting director Giovanni Manna claimed that the situation was “very clear” in his head.
“Romelu went to Belgium for international duty, he had a small injury setback and preferred to remain there to train, against what we had asked,” he explained on DAZN shortly before kick-off in the Milan game. “Nobody would’ve stopped him from working with his doctors, but we had wanted to talk it over in Naples, and it didn’t happen. We are not happy about that.
“The integrity, respect and value of the group is above all else. Talking about this now is superfluous, because Romelu is not here. He is working in Belgium. I think and hope he will return in a week’s time. But he knows there will be consequences.”
What those consequences will be are anyone’s guess right now, but a fine and a suspension appear inevitable. Nonetheless, it feels significant that Napoli’s players are keen to welcome Lukaku back into the squad as quickly as possible.
“We have no problem with Romelu; he always behaved well with us, and we are in contact,” Matteo Politano, who scored the winner against Milan, told DAZN. “Whatever happened, it’s between him and the club, so it’s up to them to sort it out.”
Meanwhile, full-back Leonardo Spinazzola called for calm and understanding from everyone involved: “This has been a really difficult time for Rom. He lost his dad, and while he seems like a big tough guy, he’s really just a gentle giant, a big softie. We’ve talked a lot, I know how much he suffered, so I hope above all for him that this can pass.”
It certainly should, and sooner rather than later, given banishing Lukaku from the first-team squad for what’s left of the season is not really in anyone’s interests. However, everything very much hinges on Lukaku and, at this particular point in time, it’s impossible to say when he’ll be 100% ready, physically and, much more importantly, mentally, to play for Napoli again.
