Napoli’s demanding autumn schedule will begin without Antonio Vergara, whose first weeks of the season and first steps with Italy had marked him out as one of the brighter figures in the squad.
Vergara begins recovery after Italy injury
- Vergara came off late in Italy’s Nations League match against Turkey on the previous evening, having already made his international debut against France.
- He underwent medical tests at the Pineta Grande Hospital, where examinations found a moderate-grade strain to the soleus muscle in his right calf.
- The Napoli midfielder has started his rehabilitation programme.
The club are working with an absence of around a month as the likeliest outcome. A more optimistic timetable could bring Vergara back after roughly three weeks, potentially by the end of October, but the expectation is that he will return only in the second half of November, following the next international break.
A difficult run for Napoli and Allegri
The injury removes a player who had earned regular opportunities across Serie A and the Champions League, while his performances in the opening part of the campaign also led to his first Italy call-up. For Massimiliano Allegri, it is a significant interruption at a point when Napoli face a dense sequence of domestic and European fixtures.
Should the month-long forecast be confirmed, Vergara will miss the entire upcoming stretch:
- Frosinone at the Maradona on Saturday
- Villarreal in the Champions League
- Venezia in Serie A
- Bodø/Glimt in Europe
- Roma
- Monza
- Juventus
- Porto
- Lazio
Napoli must therefore manage a decisive part of their league and continental programme without a midfielder who had quickly become part of the early-season picture. Vergara’s immediate task is recovery; his return, if the current prognosis holds, will come only once the November international window has passed.
