Injuries to Amir Rrahmani and Juan Jesus have plunged Napoli’s defence in chaos, forcing coach Rudi Garcia to start studying solutions.
The Partenopei, fresh off the back of their Scudetto success last season, have struggled to have that same bite in the new term, dropping points twice in their first four Serie A outings. In the Champions League, the team edged out a key 2-1 win over Braga.
Still reeling from the sale of Kim Min-Jae to Bayern Munich in the summer, Napoli’s defence has looked a little shaky, a situation exacerbated by the injuries to Rrahmani and Juan Jesus, who started as a centre back pair in the club’s opening three Serie A outings.
Page 23 of today’s Gazzetta dello Sport details how Garcia is aware that he’ll need to regularly rotate his defence due to the packed schedule, so is planning to adapt another player in the centre back role.
The two leading candidates for this are right back Giovanni Di Lorenzo and defensive midfielder Jens Cajuste. For now, new signing Natan and Leo Ostigard are set to fill the gaps in the backline.