Napoli turmoil sweeps away memories of title glory

MILAN: Napoli are deep in crisis as they prepare to host rock-bottom Salernitana on Saturday with their Serie A title defence in tatters and tensions flaring behind the scenes.

A full 20 points behind leaders Inter Milan, who are at Monza on Saturday, at the season´s halfway mark, Napoli are unrecognisable from the team which waltzed to a historic Scudetto last term.

Walter Mazzarri´s side have scored just four times in their last eight matches in all competitions, losing six of those fixtures, and have tumbled all the way down to ninth in Italy´s top flight.

Mazzarri was hired in November to clean up the mess left by his predecessor Rudi Garcia but if anything Napoli have got worse under his command, with serious disciplinary problems and player spats adding to a toxic mix.

Last weekend´s three-goal shoeing at Torino wasn´t even this season´s worst defeat -- that honour goes to the 4-0 Italian Cup thumping at the hands of Frosinone -- but was the third straight match Napoli had at least one player sent off. As if that wasn´t bad enough a row involving the stars of last season´s title triumph, Victor Osimhen and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, suddenly exploded out of the blue on Wednesday.

Kvaratskhelia´s agent Mamuka Jugeli gave an interview suggesting that Osimhen, who recently extended his Napoli contract until 2026, will be playing in Saudi Arabia next season. That enraged Osimhen, who from Nigeria´s training camp ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations called Jugeli a “piece of filth and a disgrace” in a punchy social media riposte. Osimhen´s agent Roberto Calenda also got involved, calling Jugeli´s comments “nasty, superficial and unacceptable”.