Conte: De Bruyne has fit in perfectly at Napoli

Antonio Conte praised Kevin De Bruyne's fast adaptation to life at Napoli ahead of their first game of the 2025-26 Serie A campaign. 

Reigning Scudetto champions Napoli begin their title defence on the road against Sassuolo on Saturday, with De Bruyne in line to make his Serie A debut. 

The Belgian midfielder spent 10 trophy-laden years with Manchester City before completing his free transfer to Naples back in June. 

De Bruyne headlined Napoli's additions this summer, having provided the most assists in all competitions among players in Europe's top five leagues during his time at City. 

The 34-year-old recorded 170 assists in that time, with Lionel Messi in second with 147, and he looks set to improve Napoli's forward line heading into the new campaign. 

Another player who could be in line for his Serie A debut for Napoli is fellow summer recruit Lorenzo Lucca, who joined from Udinese on an initial loan deal. 

Lucca scored 12 times in the Italian top-flight last season, and could lead the line for Conte after Romelu Lukaku suffered an injury in Napoli's pre-season win over Olympiacos. 

And despite being impressed by his new signings, Conte believes that Napoli's chances of retaining their Serie A crown remain slim. 

"He [De Bruyne] immediately understood the difference between Manchester City and Napoli," Conte told SportMediaset.

"He's been very humble, attentive and intelligent. He's fit perfectly into this environment. "If we've signed him [Lucca] it's because we think he can help the team.

"We signed him to let him grow behind Lukaku, so we'll see how long that takes and how much he can give us.

"I could be the first coach to win two league titles with Napoli means that nobody has ever managed to do it before, so this already makes us understand the difficulty of doing so.

"We have to stay calm, it's a very, very difficult goal. We'll see what happens this year. We're pretty calm. We'll fly low and let others do the talking. We have to speak in facts.

"In pre-season, everyone says they worked well. We have also worked hard, but now we have to bring all of that onto the pitch.

"I don't care who the opponent is, the important thing is that others see Napoli as an opponent in the fight for the Scudetto."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Sassuolo – Armand Lauriente

Armand Lauriente was a key figure in Sassuolo's Serie B title win last season, scoring the most goals in the division with 18.

While also providing five assists last season, he scored five goals in the final seven games of their campaign to get them over the line and back into the top-flight.

Napoli – Lorenzo Lucca

With Lukaku sidelined for the beginning of the season, Lucca will need to step in the striker's absence.

Lucca has scored 20 Serie A goals since the start of the 2023-24 campaign. He is the youngest player to reach that figure in the past two seasons, while only Duvan Zapata (10) has scored more headed goals than the Italian (eight) in that period.

MATCH PREDICTION – NAPOLI WIN

Napoli's defence was vital in helping them win the Scudetto last season as they conceded a league-fewest 27 goals on their way to the trophy.

Conte also has the best points-per-game average of anyone in Serie A history, if all wins amounted to three points since 1929-30, with 2.24.

Sassuolo, meanwhile, recorded 25 wins on their way to the second division title last term, scoring the most goals (78) despite recording the fifth-highest expected goals (xG) of 54.8.

Napoli have got the better of Sassuolo of late, and are unbeaten in the last seven Serie A matches against them. The hosts are looking for their first league win in games between the two teams since November 2020, though. 

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Sassuolo – 17.9%

Draw – 23.4%

Napoli – 58.7%