Antonio Conte warns he ‘expected better’ from Napoli and isn’t sure if it will take ‘6 months or 2 years’ to make them competitive again, including a Victor Osimhen situation that he inherited on his arrival.
Their Serie A opener against Hellas Verona kicks off at the Stadio Bentegodi on Sunday at 17.30 UK time (16.30 GMT).
The Partenopei already began their campaign in less than sparkling form, held 0-0 by Serie B side Modena in the Coppa Italia First Round and qualifying only through a penalty shoot-out.
“Our mantra is to give 200 per cent, we must go beyond our limitations, because this is a critical moment for Napoli,” said Conte in his press conference.
“The President talked about a reconstruction. I evaluated the squad and agree fully, we need to rebuild from the foundations. A squad that puts 10-12 players on the market means we require patience, humility and understanding of this moment from everyone around us. Even the fans must give more and understand this is a delicate moment for Napoli!”
When the new coach arrived, Conte assumed that by this point he’d have Romelu Lukaku from Chelsea and Osimhen would’ve been sold to raise funds, but the transfer market did not work out that way and everything is still up in the air.
“I will not talk about the players who are not part of the Napoli squad. You all know full well the Osimhen situation was already there when I arrived and will be dealt with exclusively by the club. I did not get into the situation.
“You all know that the transfer market is very complicated and currently blocked. I cannot say any more than that.”
Conte stark warning about Napoli past and future
The club won the Scudetto with a dominant performance in 2023, then failed to even qualify for Europe. When asked which was the ‘real’ Napoli and which was a fluke, Conte gave a stark warning.
“We must not think last season was a fluke. Anyone talking about bad luck or other situations, I say look at the table, the huge gap from the other teams! Anyone who thinks this was just misfortune is a long way off the reality of the situation.
“I struggle to make predictions now, we have only been working together for a month on the foundations. I just say we must prepare to suffer, all together, united, as in suffering we must be able to give our best.”
Comparisons were made with the year Conte took over at Juventus, who went from seventh place to winning the Scudetto.
“I expected a better situation. I expected more positive surprises, but I had difficulty finding them. We are here to evaluate objectively with the club, knowing we cannot do everything at once and have to get there gradually. I look at other teams who are consolidated and just making tweaks.
“I won’t say we are at Year Zero, but close. It doesn’t frighten me, but we must be clear so we know what we’re going into. I don’t know how long it will take for Napoli to become competitive again, whether it takes six months, 12, two years, I couldn’t say.
“There is too much to do in order to fix it in one transfer session or one year, and not being in Europe makes it more difficult to get players in. We’ve got to focus on what is necessary,” concluded Conte.
“The problem with the Juve comparison is that we’ve got what happened two years ago that confounds ideas and sends smoke into people’s eyes. I would like to see the similarity in everyone coming together to get their heads above water.”
Alessio Zerbin is suspended tomorrow, while Osimhen is again expected to be left out and Alessandro Buongiorno is a doubt with a sprained ankle.
Greed is making all these difficult it seems as if you were not ready to let go Osimhen. Come down from your high mountaiñ and put your season back on course.
Hopefully he can motivate the team to perform better than last seasons dismal displays.
Napoli not wanting to reduce the asking price for Osimhem is not helping the club. Napoli will loose a lot of Nigeria fans because of the way they handled Osimhem. I’m not going to watch Hellas Verona vs Napoli because Osimhem will not be playing.