Aurelio De Laurentiis returned to Castel Volturno with Napoli approaching a Saturday meeting with Frosinone that carries weight beyond a single afternoon. After the setback at Fiorentina’s Franchi Stadium, the champions’ response is now expected on the pitch, while the club president continues to work on the longer-term foundations he believes Napoli need to remain competitive.
A visit before the restart
- Shortly before lunch, De Laurentiis arrived at Napoli’s training centre as Massimiliano Allegri and his staff completed preparations for the afternoon session.
- The president briefly greeted Allegri and sporting director Giovanni Manna. Their conversation lasted only a few minutes before De Laurentiis went to his office, where he remained for around an hour.
- Training was due to resume later that day, with the squad turning its attention to Frosinone after the defeat in Florence.
- Napoli need a victory to put the Franchi loss behind them and resume their pursuit of the leading positions in the table. De Laurentiis is also waiting for a more encouraging performance from the side.
The coach was personally appointed by De Laurentiis during the summer. Allegri had already been a serious consideration a year earlier, before Antonio Conte chose to stay in his previous role. Napoli’s intention was to preserve their place among Serie A’s leading clubs while making progress in the Champions League.
Qualiano project remains central
The president’s appearance at Castel Volturno came as Napoli await further developments on a proposed new training complex. At an event in Rome two weeks earlier, where he received a lifetime achievement sports award from the Foreign Press Association, De Laurentiis outlined the scale of the plan.
He said the club had identified a 17.5-hectare site in Qualiano, with room for 10 football pitches and 7,500 square metres of offices and changing facilities for the first team and every youth level.
Napoli still face a substantial administrative process before the project can move forward, but De Laurentiis sees the new centre as part of a wider infrastructure strategy. His stated aim is to raise revenue and give the club the means to compete over the long term.
Stadium debate still unresolved
A new stadium is the other major project on De Laurentiis’ agenda. He has maintained his scepticism over the municipality’s redevelopment plans for the Stadio Maradona ahead of Euro 2032.
Reacting to work linked to €150 million in regional funding, he argued that even €200 million would amount to little more than “a touch-up” for the existing ground.
De Laurentiis has instead discussed the possibility of building a new 70,000-seat stadium in eastern Naples. The concept includes 120 sky boxes, restaurants, shops and an interactive museum.
For now, those plans sit alongside the immediate demands of the season. At Castel Volturno, the president’s message was necessarily more immediate: Napoli must take the next step against Frosinone before looking any further ahead.
