Antonio Conte between Napoli and Juventus: tensions with De Laurentiis and sirens from Juventus. Latest developments on the Salento coach’s future
Conte-Juve, la svolta: “Ha già parlato con De Laurentiis” (AnsaFoto) – serieanews.com
The relationship between Antonio Conte and Napoli has never been easy to interpret. Seemingly solid, but full of nuances. Of those delicate balances that hold as long as everything runs smoothly. And that risk blowing up at the first crack. Today, it seems, that crack is there. And it’s about to pop up.
Conte arrived in Naples taking charge of a team that was tenth in the standings, challenged, out of it all. And within a season he regenerated it. Now he finds himself there, in March, second in the standings, with Inter within reach and the Scudetto no longer a fan’s dream but a real possibility. And to say that, in July, there were those who did not even believe it would come until Christmas.
In a normal scenario, there would already be talk of renewal, of revival, of a Napoli that-with the Champions League in its pocket and a 150 million summer budget-could become next year’s real battleship. A dizzying prospect. Instead, there is something that does not add up. Something is cracked. And not as of today.
L’incontro con De Laurentiis e le tensioni su Kvaratskhelia
Those who know Conte know this: he doesn’t need much of a reason to take situations head-on. It is enough for him to perceive that something is not right, that someone is not rowing like him, and immediately the fuse is lit. And that is what, according to Paolo Bargiggia, would have already happened.
L’incontro con De Laurentiis e le tensioni su Kvaratskhelia (Foto: LaPresse) – serieanews.com
According to Bargiggia, there has already been a confrontation between him and De Laurentiis. Not serene, not constructive, and – if we want to put it bluntly – not even that clarifying. There have been sparks, tensions, and above all frustrations that Conte has been carrying around for weeks. The central node? The January market.
Because it is true that Napoli spent a lot in the summer, but then it sold Kvaratskhelia right at the highlight of the season, while it was first in the standings and with a broken team. And it did so without really covering itself, without offering Conte a real alternative.
A choice that left the technician displaced. Not so much because of the Georgian’s value, but because of the timing and, above all, the absence of direct confrontation: De Laurentiis was in the United States, and the distance-even human distance-was felt.
Quel richiamo della Juventus che mette tutto in discussione
In all this, there is then that other not-so-irrelevant detail: Juventus. The club of the heart, the one in which Conte was first flag, then leader. And which today, in the midst of a technical re-foundation, is watching him with increasingly insistent eyes.
It is no mystery: among the names for next season’s bench, his is the one that heats up the HCL square the most. And also in society.
Quel richiamo della Juventus che mette tutto in discussione (AnsaFoto) – serieanews.com
Of course, rumors alone are not enough to break a project that works. But if you add to those a difficult relationship with the president, a market that has not convinced, and a series of unfulfilled promises, such as the new sports center, then something changes.
Conte, for his part, has not yet decided. He will at the end of the season, as he should. But the idea of starting again in Turin, with full control of a technical project and a square that idolizes him, is there. More concrete than people think.
And according to Bargiggia, if the coach asks to be released, De Laurentiis will not object. He too – it seems – is not fully convinced of some of the coach’s human traits. Then yes, that Juventus bench would become more than an option. It would become an announced return. With a new, ambitious project to be built from scratch.
And with a mutual love-between technician and fans-that, however set aside, has never really faded.
This article Conte-Juve, the turning point: “He has already talked to De Laurentiis” appeared in its original version first on SerieANews.
