Kevin De Bruyne’s move to Napoli this past week felt understated: one of the finest players of a generation switching clubs for the first time in a decade, to little fanfare. The arranging of his medical in Rome, not Naples, played a part, avoiding the crowds that would have turned out to greet him. A handful of fans still found a way to be there when he arrived at the Villa Stuart clinic, 140 miles from their team’s home ground.
Confirmation of his move came first from the Italian club’s owner, Aurelio De Laurentiis, who posted a picture to social media of them sitting side-by-side in director’s chairs. “Welcome Kevin!” were the accompanying words.
Since buying the rights to a bankrupt club in 2004, De Laurentiis has rebuilt Napoli’s image in part through a strategy of progressively more high‑profile transfers and managerial appointments. Having made his fortune in the movie industry, he understands better than most the difference that a sprinkling of stardust can make.
De Bruyne will be 34 by the time he plays his first game for Napoli and the past two years at City suggest his body is no longer capable of performing at the levels it once did. Even so, a player who chipped in eight goals and 17 assists in the past two Premier League seasons, while starting only 34 games, plainly still has things left to contribute. And his power as a leading man may yet be undimmed.
According to the newspaper Il Corriere dello Sport, Napoli’s Instagram added 500,000 followers – more than 10% of their total – within hours of De Bruyne being announced. These are details that will make some football fans roll their eyes, but in the business of the modern game they matter.
Then again, perhaps there were other factors. De Bruyne may have spoken to his Belgium teammate Romelu Lukaku, who racked up 14 goals and 10 assists after joining Napoli from Chelsea last summer. Or their compatriot Dries Mertens, who played nine seasons for the Partenopei and fell so head-over-heels in love with the city that when he speaks of “home” this is still the place which he thinks of, despite leaving to join Galatasaray in 2022. Mertens was awarded honorary citizenship of Naples this month.
Or maybe it was even just witnessing another player move here from Manchester and reimagine their career. Scott McTominay went from United cast-off to Serie A’s most valuable player in nine months. It will be fascinating to see how Conte uses them together. He showed his flexibility this season, tearing up his original tactical plans to exploit the Scotland international’s strengths to the fullest.
There is every reason to believe De Bruyne can be a hit, too. A cliche it may be, but it remains true that the football played in Serie A is slower and more tactical than that in the Premier League. With more time on the ball, he will have an opportunity to reinvent himself all over again – as he did repeatedly throughout the different chapters of his time under Pep Guardiola at City.
As long ago as 2016, De Bruyne told Britain’s Sky Sports: “I am used to playing in six different positions.” By now we might be into double figures. He was at different times for City a box-to-box midfielder, a deep-lying playmaker, a winger, a No 10 and a false 9.
“I still have a lot to give,” De Bruyne said this April, as he contemplated a life after City. “Obviously I know I’m not 25 any more, but I still feel like I can do my job.”
He will do it now in Naples, under a manager who always wins and for an owner whose ambitions continue to grow. One of Conte’s oft-repeated frustrations last season was that his club had done its business late in the transfer window, leaving him little time to prepare. Signing De Bruyne this early may well signal a more aggressive summer ahead.
