Stay or Go, Conte's Fate in President De Laurentiis' Hands

NAPLES, SATURDAY — After presenting the scudetto, Antonio Conte demanded a commitment from Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis to strengthen the competitive level of the "Little Donkey" squad for the 2025-2026 season. If he does not bring in the players he wants, Conte has a big chance of returning to Juventus.

Napoli won the title of Italian League champion for the 2024-2025 season with the status of having the second oldest squad. The average age of the Napoli squad is 28.1 years. This figure is only younger than Inter Milan, which has a squad with an average age of 29.6 years.

In addition, Conte also believes that the lineup of Napoli this season still needs to be strengthened. The 25 players comprising the squad of "The Little Donkey" during the 2024-2025 competition campaign are considered by the 55-year-old tactician to be only suitable for competing in one competition.

This situation has led Conte to be willing to forgo the Coppa Italia in order to compete at the top of the Italian League. Napoli has only been playing in the Italian League since mid-December 2024.

It is not surprising that Conte has begun to target several players he wishes to bring in during the summer transfer window of 2025-2026. One prominent name that is reportedly getting closer to Napoli, according to Italian media, is attacking midfielder Kevin De Bruyne.

After serving for 10 years at Manchester City, De Bruyne is more inclined to move away from England. Napoli has become De Bruyne's favorite destination. At the very least, the Belgian midfielder will still don a light blue jersey.

"De Bruyne has agreed to move to Napoli. However, no personal agreement has been finalized. The transfer of De Bruyne is now awaiting the approval of Napoli President De Laurentiis," said Sky Sport Italia.

Conte is indeed directing his player recruitment radar towards the English League. Scott McTominay and Billu Gilmour are successful transfers for Napoli in their first season under Conte, having been brought in from English clubs.

In addition to De Bruyne, Conte is eager to bring back and restore the impressive performance of winger Federico Chiesa, who has only appeared six times with Liverpool. Alejandro Garnacho, the winger from Manchester United, is also once again linked with the Little Donkey.

Garnacho was close to joining Napoli to fill the position left by Kvicha Kvaratskhelia in January 2025. However, Garnacho rejected Napoli's proposal because he is still too in love with MU.

Jack Grealish, who has been underperforming with City this season, is also a potential alternative for a new winger for Napoli. A loan option with a purchase obligation in the following season could be a possibility for Napoli to bring in Grealish.

Napoli is also rumored to be approaching Vanja Milinovic-Savic (goalkeeper/Torino), Karim Adeyemi (winger/Borussia Dortmund), Georgiy Sudakov (attacking midfielder/Shakhtar Donetsk), and Sebastian Szymanski (midfielder/Fenerbahce).

De Laurentiis admitted that Conte has not been equipped with the squad he wants. However, De Laurentiis praised Conte's big impact in helping Napoli win the fourth scudetto in history and the second in his leadership.

"He (Conte) said that this team was not made by him, so it is best that we wait until June to do something special together (in the transfer market)," De Laurentiis told DAZN.

The charismatic media tycoon is optimistic that Conte will honor his contract which will expire in June 2026. He promised to give Conte his full support to defend the scudetto and perform well in the Champions League next season.

"If he wants to continue his golden record with the club, we will welcome him. We are ready to follow him like a great leader. I would be very happy if he achieves great success in the Champions League next season," said De Laurentiis.

Delivering the scudetto has not freed Conte from speculation in the coming summer. Conte is rumored to have a long-standing love affair blossoming for Juve.

"The Great Lady," a nickname for Juve, will seek a replacement for Igor Tudor after the 2025 Club World Cup, which will take place in June-July 2025 in the United States. Conte's name has emerged as the strongest candidate and is highly sought after by the management to return Juve to the path of winning the Italian League.

Tuttosport, an Italian sports media based in Turin, said Juve is ready to fulfill Conte's transfer request in order to improve the quality of Juve's young squad this season. The average Juve squad is the fourth youngest in the 2024-2025 Italian League at 25.6 years old.

"It's normal for coaches to be linked to prestigious teams. However, the rumours are not clear. In my opinion, Antonio (Conte) has not revealed anything and his main goal is Napoli," said Conte's friend and former protégé at Juve and the Italian national team, Gianluigi Buffon, as quoted by Calciomercato.

Conte is also not thinking about his future. He wants to enjoy the scudetto title with Napoli, then enjoy the summer holidays after a very intense campaign.

"We will enjoy everything first. I have a good rapport with the President (De Laurentiis). We got to know each other better this season because we are two winners," Conte was quoted as saying by Corriere dello Sport.