Juventus director Cristiano Giuntoli has a message for his former boss, Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis, after threats of legal action and reassures Max Allegri too.
It kicks off at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona at 19.45 GMT.
This is a special fixture for the director of sport, who last season was in charge of Napoli’s transfer strategy and oversaw a 5-1 win over Juve here.
“I was here for eight years, so I remember all the people who worked with me behind the scenes and it is an emotional moment for me,” Giuntoli told DAZN.
President De Laurentiis famously was not happy about letting Giuntoli leave and made several snide comments about the director ‘hiding’ the fact he was always a Juventus supporter.
The situation deteriorated this week with De Laurentiis and Napoli lawyers preparing legal action to exclude Juventus from the Club World Cup.
“I have not yet crossed paths with Aurelio, but I’d salute him with pleasure. Napoli’s future in that competition is in their hands, we cannot add any more points, so there is not much we can do,” replied Giuntoli.
The Bianconeri have quite a few injury problems to deal with in Naples, making the trip without Adrien Rabiot, Weston McKennie, Mattia De Sciglio, Moise Kean and Mattia Perin.
Federico Chiesa returns to the starting XI and is desperate to rediscover some of that lost form.
“He had a few injury problems and all players are not sharp if they are not 100 per cent fit. We expect the performances to grow along with his fitness levels.”
Allegri commented in yesterday’s press conference that he was waiting for Juventus to “let me know” what they had decided for next season, even though he is under contract until June 2025. Has something changed to prompt that response from him?
“Nothing has changed, the coach is right, we are very focused on the present. We are very pleased with what he is doing, so when the right moment comes, we will sit down together and work out the future. We continue together without problems.”
Napoli refused to send anyone to speak with the media before the match.