Napoli stars Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku have experienced polar returns from fairly similar injuries. The former has looked good right away and quickly convinced Antonio Conte to give him substantial minutes, while the latter has been used sparingly for a few weeks now.
According to Il Mattino (via Diretta Calciomercato), the duo could have a different future in Campania. The Azzurri are committed to Rasmus Hojlund, who will join permanently for €44M and will keep leading their attack. They have very rarely used two strikers together. A permanent switch in that direction doesn’t seem to be in the cards.
The Napoli front office have a gentleman’s agreement with the agent of Lukaku, Federico Pastorello, and they won’t stand in the way he draws rich offers, especially from the Saudi Pro League, even though he has another year on his contract, while De Bruyne is likely to stay, especially should he keep faring as he’s done in his last two appearances. The club mulled over cutting bait in previous months.
According to Fabrizio Romano (via SOSFanta), the Belgian playmaker never told the Partenopei that he planned to leave at the end of the season. The club will naturally take stock of every player, but there’s a nice rapport between the parties. The star hasn’t taken any steps toward an exit.
It wouldn’t be hard to build a two-man attack, but they never really tried, which could be telling. Perhaps the fact that one had surgery to address his issue, and the other didn’t, affected their recoveries. The reasons behind their different usage are likely more than purely physical at this point.
