Kevin de Bruyne has opened up on his relationship with former manager Antonio Conte, admitting that he's happy to see him leave Napoli.
De Bruyne, 34, joined the Serie A club as a free agent last summer, but injuries hampered his first season, making just 21 appearances, scoring five goals, and providing just four assists.
Conte has now departed and is widely expected to be replaced by Max Allegri, who was just sacked by AC Milan following their failure to qualify for the Champions League.
Speaking to Het Nieuwsblad ahead of the World Cup, De Bruyne gave us an insight on just how bad his relationship with Conte was.
“Obviously it was difficult for me because Conte has a very different vision of football to mine. In truth, I never had the opportunity to play in my preferred position," he said.
“In any case, I always tried to give my all for the team.
“We played very defensively. If you try to win every game by a one-goal margin with a 4-5-1 formation, you play a certain type of football. At the start of the season, we sat back even deeper.
“Our centre-forward scored just 10 goals, so you know the statistics are not going to be great.
When he was asked if he was happy that Conte had left Napoli, De Bruyne did not hold back.
“For me, yes. As far as I am concerned, he was not obliged to stay. There were promises made last summer on the way that we would be playing, but at the end of the day not much of it happened.
“I found that a pity. Football needs to be enjoyable, and unfortunately I found that aspect lacking. There’s no point beating around the bush, we have different visions of football. I never got to play in my position under Conte.”