Napoli confirm Insigne knee sprain, tests for further damage forthcoming

Bad news grows worse for Napoli: we already knew Lorenzo Insigne was hurt after he was forced out of today's match against Fiorentina with a serious-looking knee injury. He was tackled while awkwardly balanced, causing him to land awkwardly on his right leg. He quickly hobbled off and called for the trainers, and looked to be in a very large amount of pain.

After Insigne was seen being carried off the pitch with a heavy wrap around his right knee, reports started to circulate that his knee was sprained. That has now been confirmed by the club, as well as an added piece of even worse news: it's feared that Insigne suffered even greater ligament damage than just the sprain. He'll undergo further testing and evaluation tomorrow to determine the full extent of his injury.

The news is a major blow to Napoli. Insigne has been in magnificent form for the last month, and carried the team through several stretches of matches when nothing else was really working. With a rough stretch of schedule coming up between now and the winter break, the timing is pretty brutal.

Also brutal for Insigne: he'd made the Italy squad before his injury. It would have been his first callup since the World Cup, and it was likely that he'd have played a big role as it sounded like Antonio Conte wanted to experiment with a new role for Insigne. Now Alessio Cerci has been called up in his place, and Lorenzo will have to start everything from scratch once he's healthy again.

Get healthy soon, Lorenzo. We'll miss you.