It did not take long after Napoli had won Serie A in May for some journalists to ask whether their manager would desert them. Antonio Conte had grumbled for months about transfer decisions. Even in this moment of triumph his body language around the owner, Aurelio De Laurentiis, remained frosty.
Recent history hung over Napoli. Luciano Spalletti stepped down after leading the Partenopei to a Scudetto in 2023, riding off into the sunset in his newly pimped out Fiat Panda and citing a “personality clash” with De Laurentiis. But Conte is his own man with his own imperatives. Three months later he stands as a rare point of continuity in a league determined to eschew it. Twelve of 20 clubs have changed manager – a drop, admittedly, from 14 last summer – including six of the top eight finishers.
