De Laurentiis rage as Napoli players ‘smashed’ on international duty

Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis raged at UEFA and FIFA after fresh injuries on international duty. ‘We cannot continue like this, we pay their wages, and they return smashed to bits.’

The Partenopei have not been fortunate with injuries so far this season, as Romelu Lukaku and Kevin De Bruyne are both out for several months with thigh muscle tears.

Now Andre Frank Zambo Anguissa is not expected back until 2026 either, as he was diagnosed with a similar high grade lesion during international duty with Cameroon.

“I loaned out Rrahmani to Albania and he returned smashed to bits. Anguissa has returned smashed to bits,” De Laurentiis told reporters at the Motore Italia event.

“We cannot continue like this. When there are league tournaments, we need to get to the end without interruption, we need fewer teams, and fewer games.

“We pay their wages, so the clubs must decide whether to loan these players out for international duty or not. If a player gets injured on international duty, they need to open up a transfer window and give us compensation.

“It feels like UEFA and FIFA don’t care at all about national leagues.”

The proposals that De Laurentiis is trying to put forward include the idea of reserving international duty for just the end of a season, without interruptions throughout the campaign.

Although there is some compensation from federations if players sustain serious injuries, the concept of opening up a special transfer window to secure replacements is a new and radical suggestion.