Antonio Conte praised Kevin De Bruyne's rapid adjustment in Napoli prior to their first match of the Serie A campaign 2025-26.
Reigning Scudetto champions Napoli will start their title defense on the road against Sassuolo on Saturday, with De Bruyne in line to turn his series into a debut.
The Belgian midfielder spent 10 trophy-loading for years with Manchester City before he completed his free transfer to Naples in June.
De Bruyne led the additions of Napoli this summer, after offering the most assists in all matches between players in Europe's top five competitions during his time in the city.
The 34-year-old registered 170 assists at the time, with Lionel Messi in second place with 147, and he seems that the forward line of Napoli is the new campaign.
Another day, another session with sassuolo loomed https://t.co/ai1uihxkgo
– Official SSC Napoli (@en_scnapoli) August 21, 2025
Another player who could stand in line for his Serie A debut for Napoli is colleague -summer recruitment Lorenzo Lucca, who joins Udinese to a first loan agreement.
Lucca scored 12 times in the Italian top flight last season and was able to lead the line for Conte after Romelu Lukaku sustained an injury in the victory of Napoli over Olympiacos.
And despite being impressed by his new signing sessions, Conte believes that Napoli's opportunities to retain their Serie A -Kroon remain slim.
“He [De Bruyne] Immediately understood the difference between Manchester City and Napoli, “Conte told sports media set.
“He is very modest, attentive and intelligent. It is perfect in this environment.” If we have signed it [Lucca] It is because we think he can help the team.
“We signed him to grow him behind Lukaku, so we will see how long it takes and how much he can give us.
“I could be the first coach who wins two league titles with Napoli, means that nobody could have done it before, so this makes us already understand the difficulty to do this.
“We have to stay calm, it is a very difficult goal. We will see what is happening this year. We are pretty calm. We fly low and let others talk. We have to speak in fact.
“In the preseason, everyone says that they have worked well. We have also worked hard, but now we have to bring it all to the field.
“I don't care who the opponent is, the most 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 series B title win last season and scored the most goals in the division with 18.
Although he also provided five assists last season, he scored five goals in the last seven games of their campaign to get them over the line and back in the top.
Napoli – Lorenzo Lucca
Set aside with Lukaku before the start of the season, Lucca will have to step in the absence of the striker.
Lucca has scored 20 Serie A goals since the start of the 2023-24 campaign. He is the youngest player who reaches that figure in the past two seasons, while only Duvan Zapata (10) scored more cups in that period than the Italian (eight).
Match forecast – Napoli Win
The defense of Napoli was of vital importance to help them win the Scudetto last season, because they gave a competition-v-flexe 27 goals on their way to the trophy.
Conte also has the best point per game average of someone in the Serie A history, if all victories since 1929-30 amounted to three points, with 2.24.
In the meantime, Sassuolo took on 25 wins on the way to the title of the Second Division in the past term and scored most goals (78) despite the recording of the fifth highest expected goals (XG) of 54.8.
Napoli has recently improved from Sassuolo and has been unbeaten in the last seven Series A matches against them. However, the hosts are looking for their first competition gain in competitions between the two teams since November 2020.
Opta wins probability
Sassuolo – 17.9%
Drawing – 23.4%
Napoli – 58.7%