Kevin De Bruyne says it was a major honour to wear the iconic number 10 shirt in his first training session with Napoli since joining on a free transfer from Manchester City, Afrosport reports.
The number 10 shirt at Napoli is associated with Argentina legend Diego Maradona who played for the club between 1984 and 1991 and won five titles including two Serie A crowns, making them the first and still only club from Southern Italy to do so.
The number 10 shirt was retired by Napoli in 2000 and De Bruyne had the chance to wear it even though his official number will be 11 when pre-season starts.
Reacting to putting on the number 10 shirt, the 34-year-old Belgian midfielder, stated he did not want to be compared to Maradona, rather focusing on himself and his own abilities.
“I would say I was a bit surprised in the beginning, because I knew that the number was retired, but in another way it’s an honour. It’s an honour from the team and from the club to give me this responsibility,” he said.
De Bruyne added: “I don’t think it adds any more pressure [wearing the number 10 shirt]. I think the pressure comes from itself. If you play for big teams like Napoli, the pressure will be there. There’s a team that wants to win, you know what you have to do as a player and a squad, but I don’t believe that a number or anything else will add to the pressure.
“Maradona is Maradona, he’s one of the legends of the game and he’s synonymous with Napoli anyway. I’m grateful, I’m proud, but I’m my own player. I’m going to try and do the job the best I can do and hopefully I can bring pleasure to the team, to the city and to the fans and get some good performances in there.”
☀⚽️🇮🇹 Full list of summer friendlies for the Italian champions!
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Napoli will begin pre-season with games against Arezzo on Tuesday followed by friendlies against Catanzato, Brest, Girona and Olympiacos before their Serie A title defence starts against newly-promoted Sassuolo on August 23.
