Coach Gennaro Gattuso kicked Chucky Lozano out of Napoli training on Monday, according to reports, putting into question the Mexican winger’s future in Italy.
Lozano was a breakout star with PSV Eindhoven, tallying 40 goals and 23 assists in three seasons in the Netherlands. Combined with a strong showing at the 2018 World Cup with El Tri, Chucky moved to Napoli in August for a club-record $46.5 million.
The Coppa Italia semifinals will be played on June 12-13 while the final will be held on June 17, Italy's Sports Minister Vincenzo Spadafora confirmed on Thursday.
Juventus and AC Milan, who played out a 1-1 draw in the first leg, will play on June 12. Napoli host Inter Milan a day later at the San Paolo Stadium, leading 1-0 on aggregate.
Serie A said in a statement last week that the Italian season, which has been suspended since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, would resume with the cup competition before the league restarts on June 20.
Valencia has criticized Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini for taking charge of his side's Champions League match against the Spanish side in March despite suffering from symptoms of the novel coronavirus.
Gasperini told Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport on Sunday that he felt ill on the day before the last-16 second leg match in Valencia on March 10, which was played without spectators as northern Italy was then the epicenter of the virus in Europe.
He also confirmed he has since tested positive from an antibodies test.
French champion Paris Saint-Germain has signed striker Mauro Icardi on a permanent deal from Inter Milan, the Serie A club said on Sunday. Argentine Icardi, 27, joined PSG in September on a season-long loan with a buy-out option.
"FC Internazionale Milano announces the transfer of Mauro Icardi to Paris Saint-Germain FC: the striker, born in 1993, has permanently moved to the French club," Inter said in a statement. "The club thanks the player for the six seasons he spent with us and wishes him the best for his future professional career."
Italy's top-flight Serie A soccer league has been given the go-ahead to restart on June 20 following the novel coronavirus stoppage, sports minister Vincenzo Spadafora said on Thursday. He added that there was a possibility the resumption of the season, which was suspended on March 9, could be preceded by Italian Cup matches one week earlier.
"Italy is starting up again and it's only right that football can also get going," he told reporters after a conference call with representatives from the Italian Football Federation (FIGC).
After weeks of wrangling, with several U-turns on the way, Italy is due to decide on Thursday if and when its top-flight Serie A soccer league can resume after the coronavirus stoppage.
Possibly encouraged by seeing how Germany's Bundesliga has restarted without problems so far, the Italian government appears to have relaxed its position recently.
Reports flooded out of Milan on Monday about Zlatan Ibrahimovic picking up an injury during training with AC Milan. The Italian club said the injury was sustained to his calf and he'll undergo medical exams on Tuesday to discover its extent.
Several different outlets in Milan had reported that the situation was far more severe and that Ibrahimovic could be done not only for the season but for his career with a ruptured Achilles tendon, but that's not the case.
ROME — The head of the Italian Referees Association (AIA) hopes match officials will be treated with greater respect if and when Serie A returns following the coronavirus stoppage.
"I hope this virus will teach us to change our attitudes and have a bit more respect," AIA head Marcello Nicchi told Radio Sportiva in an interview.
"Was the coronavirus needed to say that players should keep their distance from the referee when they protest? It's an ethical issue that I hope everyone will assimilate."
MILAN — Italy's heritage authority raised no objections to tearing down Milan's 1920s-era San Siro arena, a document seen by Reuters showed, removing a major obstacle to the city's top-flight soccer clubs plans to replace it with a new stadium.
Serie A clubs AC Milan and Inter Milan, respectively owned by U.S. fund Elliott and Chinese electronic retailer Suning, last year filed a request to jointly build a new 60,000-seater stadium in the San Siro area.