Napoli coach Antonio Conte on market situation: “At Napoli I thought I would find a better situation” | OneFootball

Ahead of Napoli‘s opening fixture against Verona, coach Antonio Conte expressed his anger regarding the lack of reinforcements obtained within the summer market.

As it stands, the Partenopei have sealed the signings of former Giallorossi Leonardo Spinazzola, central defender Alessandro Buongiorno, and Real Madrid outcast Rafa Marin.

Despite numerous acquisitions within the defensive department, the Azzurri have yet to complete the signings of key targets such as Benfica’s David Neres, Belgian forward Romelu Lukaku, holding midfielder Scot McTominay, and Birghton’s Billy Gilmour, with roughly two weeks remaining until the market comes to a close.

Since signing a three-year contract with Napoli in the summer after having taken a break from coaching, Antonio Conte embarked on this journey with desire to completely restructure the squad and on the terms of receiving backing from the board within the market.

However, the Italian tactician took time in the pre-match presser, via CalcioNapoli1926, to share his dissatisfaction with the current circumstances within the squad heading into the 2024/25 Serie A campaign.

Conte stated, “At Napoli, I thought I would find a better situation. I expected some positive surprises. I thought we shouldn’t throw everything away after last year. We will make evaluations and we know that not everything must be done immediately.

“Finding yourself in a situation where there are 9-10 transfers… In other teams there are consolidated situations and they add on the market. We’re close to year 0 but it doesn’t scare me. But it’s better to be clear and we know what problems we face. The fans must know the situation well and I ask them for great unity.

“In difficulties we must be united, a single body. I don’t know how long it will take to get Napoli competitive again, 6 months or 3 years. But we must be ready and not give ourselves up. We have to be bad-ass. There is no similarity with Juve, because there is the trap of the scudetto throwing smoke since it was two years ago, but the situation is not like that. I want the similarity of the desire.”

Julian Faustini Ι GIFN