Antonio Conte has dragged Napoli back from disaster and restored them to the top of Serie A but his future at the Scudetto winners is in doubt even after a triumphant season.
The fiery 55-year-old has exceeded pre-season expectations and bolstered his reputation as a serial winner by guiding Napoli to their fourth Scudetto, and second in three seasons.
But he may well be on his way in the summer after just one season at the helm as his charged relationship with Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis has simmered throughout the campaign.
Conte has said publicly, in the crucial final weeks of the title race, he is unhappy about aspects of the way film mogul De Laurentiis — another tricky character who frequently falls out with coaches — runs Napoli.
And he has hinted that if Napoli don’t meet his expectations in the summer, with a far tougher campaign featuring Champions League football coming up next term, he will be off.
“You have to live in the present… the people want to win and are ambitious. I’m open to everything, but we need to see where we are,” said Conte when asked about his future last month.
Conte took charge last summer with Napoli reeling from the worst Serie A title defence in history and the stars of that triumph — Victor Osimhen and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia — looking for a way out.
He quickly moulded Napoli in his image, with Romelu Lukaku and Scotland midfielder Scott McTominay his stand-out players after arriving from Chelsea and Manchester United respectively in August.
Conte was already irritated at a lack of reinforcements in the early weeks of his tenure, and Napoli had played two league fixtures by the time Lukaku and McTominay were signed.
‘Not stupid’
Napoli’s failed bid to find a big money buyer for Osimhen hung over the club until he was eventually packed off to Galatasaray on loan, and the January sale of Kvaratskhelia to Paris Saint-Germain left Conte wondering whether it was worth staying.
“I’m happy in Naples and I’m working for fans who give me something emotionally. That’s very important. But you know that whoever hires me knows that I bring with me expectations,” said Conte.
“People hire me and think ‘you have to finish first or second, even if you finished 10th the year before, and you have to fight for the title, qualifying for Europe isn’t enough’.
“I can handle all of that, but I’m not stupid if there aren’t the resources in place to achieve that.”
That wasn’t the first time Conte has called out a club for penny-pinching, and it won’t be the last.
When Conte left Juventus in the summer of 2014, after winning three straight Serie A titles, he blamed his lack of success in Europe on a lack of investment.
He famously compared being the Juve manager to sitting down in a 100-euro restaurant with 10 euros, a quip which came back to haunt him when his successor Massimiliano Allegri took Juve to two Champions League finals in three seasons.
And for all De Laurentiis’ outlandish behaviour and disregard for other people’s wishes, he took control of bankrupt Napoli in 2004 and re-established them as one of Italy’s top clubs.
If he stays, Conte will have to prove that he is capable of handling the sort of punishing schedule deposed champions Inter Milan have had to deal with.
Inter have played 17 more games than Napoli this year and that has clearly helped Conte’s team, an advantage that neither he nor the club will be able to lean on next season.
