Hirving Lozano’s time at Napoli has just gone from bad to worse with ESPN reporting that the reported Newcastle United and Everton target has been thrown out of training by Gennaro Gattuso on Tuesday.
As you might imagine, this snarling little pitbull of a manager is not a man you want to get on the wrong side of.
He took no prisoners as a player and it does not seem that he has mellowed with age. Just ask Lozano, who felt the full force of the World Cup winner’s rage today.
The £37 million winger was already stuck on the sidelines at Napoli after falling out of favour under the former AC Milan boss.
And if Lozano was hoping to claim a rare starting berth ahead of Wednesday’s Coppa Italia final against Juventus, it’s fair to say he has not gone about things in the right way.
ESPN reports that the Mexico international was sent home today with his work rate in training, or a lack thereof, leaving Gattuso frothing at the mouth.
Lozano is not the first man to fall short of the manager’s lofty standards of late.
“Allan didn’t train the way I like. He walked around during training and that’s not alright with me,” Gattuso told Goal in February after the Brazilian midfielder let his standards slip in pre-match prep.
Lozano, an explosive goalscoring winger who fired PSV to two Eredivisie titles, looks all-but certain to be on his way out of Napoli when the transfer window opens.
Fortunately, despite a dreadful debut season in Southern Italy, he is not short of offers.
Newcastle United held talks with Lozano’s agent, Mino Raiola, in May according to ArenaNapoli.
Il Mattino, meanwhile, claimed in March that a reunion with former Napoli boss Carlo Ancelotti was on the cards at Everton, though a move to West Ham United cannot be discounted either.
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