After being absent from coaching in the 2023/2024 season, Antonio Conte will return in the 2024/2025 season. Conte will coach Napoli, while still using his mainstay three-defender formation.
Conte’s career as a coach is no less great than his career as a player. Conte played a big role in bringing Juventus to dominate Serie A and become a respected club in Europe.
Conte was also quite successful when he was appointed as the coach of the Italian National Team from 2014 to 2016, although without a title. Then, Conte also achieved success with Chelsea and Inter Milan.
After a difficult period with Tottenham, Conte accepted a job from Napoli at the start of the 2024/2025 season. Conte has worked and gone through three pre-season matches. What happened in those three matches?
In his career as a coach, Antonio Conte is synonymous with the three-defender formation. Conte has used that formation, even when coaching Juventus. This formation is also used at Napoli.
In Napoli’s pre-season match, Conte used a 3-4-2-1 formation. The 54-year-old coach chose Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Amir Rrahmani, and Natan as parallel center-backs.
That composition could still change. Because, Napoli has a new center-back in Alessandro Buongiorno. The 25-year-old player was just bought from Torino for €35 million.
Conte also brought in a new wingback, Leonardo Spinazzola. In Conte’s 3-defender formation, the role of the wingback is very central. Conte often asks his players to attack from the side of the field.
Napoli’s relationship with Victor Osimhen may not be as good as the 2022/2023 season. The exit door for the Nigerian striker has been opened, of course with very strict conditions.
Osimhen is said to be the target of many clubs, including PSG. In fact, there have been initial negotiations between the 25-year-old player’s camp and PSG. Osimhen’s chances of going to Paris are very high.
Chelsea are also interested in Osimhen’s services and are ready to buy him. On the other hand, Conte has crossed out Osimhen’s name from Napoli’s squad in the pre-season match against Egnatia Rrogozhine.
Conte has a reason why he gave his blessing to Napoli to release Osimhen. Conte already has a replacement, Romelu Lukaku!
Yes, Lukaku. The Belgian player is not in Chelsea’s plans. AS Roma also does not want to buy him permanently. The option for Lukaku is to move to Napoli, through Conte’s connections.
Napoli is also interested in Lukaku’s services. Conte knows Lukaku’s abilities very well because they were once successful together at Inter Milan. In order to move to Napoli, Lukaku is ready to take a salary cut.
Here are Napoli’s transfers at the start of the 2024/2025 season until July 29, 2024:
Players in:
- Alessandro Buongiorno (Torino/€35m)
- Rafa Marin (Real Madrid/€12m)
- Leonardo Spinazzola (AS Roma/free)
- Matija Popovic (Monza/free)
Players out:
- Jesper Lindstrom (Everton/loan)
- Piotr Zielinski (Inter Milan/free)
- Diego Demme (Herta Berlin/free)
- Hubert Idasiak (LKS Lodz/free)
- Alessandro Zanoli (Genoa/loan)
- Hamed Junior Traore (loan ends)
- Leander Dendoncker (loan ends)
- Pierluigi Gollini (loan ends)
