Official: the Scudetto coach leaves the Neapolitans and goes on the market. Objective? The Italian bench. But on the day of farewell there was no shortage of poisons and attacks…
Antonio Conte leaves Napoli after two years with a scudetto and an Italian Super Cup under his belt. It was clear for weeks, it became official as soon as the match against Udinese ended which closed the Neapolitan season. The coach from Lecce presented himself with the owner Aurelio De Laurentiis to explain and explain himself, take stock of his Neapolitan period, remove more than a pebble from his shoes and leave a legacy of some messages addressed to the entire Neapolitan environment.
“A month ago I called the president and I didn’t ask anything and he didn’t tell me anything. I told him that I sensed that our project was about to end, there was no change of plan” said Conte, also removing the last veil from the choice made in the heart of spring. Why? “I made this decision because in Naples I failed in one thing: I didn’t bring compactness to the environment and so it is difficult to fight against the others. I’ve seen poison from failures, Naples needs serious people. These people must be removed because they are harmful. I failed because I didn’t compact the environment and put my hands up. I put my face to it but when I realize that things can’t be changed…It was an honour, I thank the president and the fans who understood me”.
Conte’s attack on Naples: “I have seen poison from failures”
A very harsh attack: “I have seen poison from failures, Naples needs serious people. These people must be removed because they are harmful. I failed because I didn’t compact the environment and put my hands up. I put my face to it but when I realize that things can’t be changed…It was an honour, I thank the president and the fans who understood me”.
And then the story of a very complicated season, marked by the escape from Naples after the collapse of Bologna in November, the moment in which it was clear that the alchemy of the championship of the previous year would not be rebuilt: “After Bologna I warned and reported situations that I didn’t like. You have to have the balls, I’ve never done anonymous championships and accompany the dead. The new guard had not fit in with the old group. We spoke very clearly to each other with the group, we clarified and set off again.”
Conte and the suggestion of the national team
Even in his farewell speech, however, Conte wanted to vindicate the work done for both seasons and not just the scudetto won in May 2025: “By agreeing to come to Naples, I thought I was accepting a situation where I could enjoy it in terms of results, but instead I immediately realized that my person shifts ambitions, parameters and expectations. I arrived after a tenth place and I heard that we had to win the scudetto only because we didn’t play the cups, for others it wasn’t having said this this year. I am happy with what has been done, I think that something truly important has been done historically like in Maradona’s time. I wish Napoli to repeat two years like this.”
To close the future, with the suggestion of a return to the national team on which the Conte himself had gone unbalanced in the days in which he announced the end of the adventure to De Laurentiis: “There is no talk of chatter. I remember what I said about the national team, I was very clear. I said that if I were president I would put Conte. Guardiola’s name has also been mentioned, is the FIGC ready to have a top coach? At this moment there is nothing. Things are done too easily. Are there the funds to sign Guardiola? I’m the first to say take it, but are there the funds? All the benches are occupied, maybe I’ll rest and come visit Aurelio in Los Angeles for the World Cup.”
