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Agent: Lorenzo Insigne feels "neglected" at Napoli.

... what?

Giuseppe Bellini/Getty Images

Sometimes, agents are fine and helpful and wonderful. They look out for their clients, make sure their needs are taken care of, and help facilitate a move to a better fitting club if the situation where they're at starts to go sour. Other times, though, agents are awful, borderline villainous individuals who can't get out of their own way without sowing discord and unrest. Sadly, it's starting to look like the man who represents Napoli forward Lorenzo Insigne falls in to the latter category.

Speaking to the Correre dello Sport, Antonio Ottaiano painted a bizarrely dismal picture of Insigne's relationship with Napoli. He even went as far as to not-so-subtly suggest that he'd try to force a move for his client this summer, something that would be well and truly shocking to see happen.

His future is not certain. We're waiting to get a sense of the club's project and ambitions. Also, and this is fundamental, whether the player is still part of their plans. He feels neglected.

It's a very simple matter, we've been saying for months that we're expecting a meeting with the club to understand what projects they have. Insigne wants to know his future in detail.

-Source: Corriere dello Sport, translation via Football Italia

The emphasis is mine, and highlights the completely mystifying nature of the quotes. Where such a feeling would come from, after Insigne was closely supported during his rehab from that horrific knee injury, then welcomed back as a hero. Especially not after he was unofficially dubbed as the club's vice-captain, consistently wearing the armband when he was on the pitch and Marek Hamsik was not.

The fact is this: Lorenzo Inisnge has been and will continue to be central to Napoli's plans. He has a clear place in Maurizio Sarri's side. This grandstanding is simply his agent stirring up trouble where there is none. It's likely that he's trying to talk his way in to contract negotiations for a new deal, but it's not like he really needed to -- Napoli have given Insigne a new contract in each of the last several summers with plans to continue doing so in the future, and Aurelio De Laurentiis has made it plain that he intended to keep his star local player happy no matter what.

It's dreck like this that gives agents bad names. Some are good people who are perfectly good at their jobs. Some, not so much. Ottaino clearly falls in to the latter category, and this only adds further evidence to a long string of it that Insigne would be much better off with a different person representing his interests.