Kevin De Bruyne's time at Manchester City will come to an end and Napoli are looking to land the Belgian playmaker - who has reportedly bought a house in Italy
Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has claimed that Kevin De Bruyne is about to sign for the Italian club. The Belgian will leave Manchester City and has reportedly bought a house in Naples.
De Bruyne is on the look out for a new club after the Premier League club confirmed they would not be offering him a new deal. Initially there was talk of the 33-year-old remaining in England's top flight, but the player later decided to move overseas.
Napoli have just claimed the Serie A title with Antonio Conte at the helm and he's looking to bolster his squad. They have benefited from Premier League recruits with Scott McTominay excelling since his move from Manchester United.
The club's president has now been open about their pursuit of the City playmaker, who has remained a top performer when fit. De Laurentiis stopped short of confirming the signing but has been in discussions with the player.
He told Rai: "I believe he has already bought a beautiful villa. This morning I had a video chat with him, his wife and their 9-year-old boy and it was a lovely picture." He was then if the move was official and replied: "Not yet. Until it is in black and white, no news."
De Bruyne played his final match for City during their Premier League win at Fulham on Sunday. His contributions at the Etihad were recognised in the club's final home game of the season. The Belgian said: "I wanted to play with creativity, with passion, I wanted to enjoy football and I hope everybody enjoyed it.
"Everybody from inside and outside of the club made me so much better than I was before, its been an absolutely honour to plat with these guys. I've made friends for life, I'll be back for sure."
Conte's future as Napoli manager is far from secure with Max Allegri being lined up as his replacement if the club cannot agree on their next steps with the ex-Chelsea boss, who has shown he is willing to walk out on jobs when he and the hierarchy aren't aligned.
He is prepared to stay but Il Mattino reports he wants Napoli to sign a top player in each area of the team - which could see them end up bringing in nine new faces if he gets he wish. Napoli would also have to increase their wage budget from £68m to just over £90m.