Napoli boss Conte dismisses having agreement with Juventus

Napoli manager Antonio Conte has dismissed claims that he had an agreement with his former club Juventus to become the next manager, Afrosport reports.

Conte had been heavily linked with a return to Allianz Stadium where he managed between 2011 and 2014 and won five titles including three Serie A.

This came after uncertainty over the future of Igor Tudor who replaced Thiago Motta in March and led the Bianconeri to a fourth place finish.

Tudor has now been confirmed for the 2025-26 campaign and has a contract in place for an extra season.

Conte had been rumoured to leave Napoli despite helping them win their fourth Scudetto but decided to stay after meeting with club president Aurelio De Laurentiis.

“What upsets me is that, just a month before the end of the season, there were talks of me going to Juventus, suggesting I could leave Napoli,” Conte told Sky Sport Italia.

“I had no agreement whatsoever with Juventus. To anyone who tried to approach me, I said, ‘I won’t speak to anyone until I’ve talked with President De Laurentiis.’”

He added: “Only the stupid ones can follow these things. For me, Juventus was and will always be Juventus, just like Lecce. No one will ever be able to undermine the feelings I have for my own story and where I grew up. It bothers me because many people take advantage of my public image; I realise my name carries a certain weight.

“Even this year, at the Napoli presentation, people started asking me to jump and chant, ‘whoever doesn’t jump is a Juventus fan.’ I stopped them and said, ‘You can’t ask me to do something I will never do.’

“The same applies when I eventually leave Napoli. It’s about respect.”

Conte went on to confirm his displeasure with some of Napoli’s transfer business such as the sale of Georgian sensation Khvicha Kvaratskhelia to PSG in January but failed to find an adequate replacement.

“I think everyone is aware of what happened in January. During the season, some things didn’t really make me happy,” he admitted.

“New players arrived only in the last week [of the 2024 summer transfer window]. McTominay, Gilmour, Neres and Lukaku. Honestly, I didn’t like that.

“I believe I was good at accepting and not giving excuses to my players and myself.

“When you sign, there are honours and duties. When we spoke, they admitted there had been mistakes; it happens in the first year of marriage. As long as I was reassured on this aspect, we continued. We must defend the Scudetto and protect our work.

“I signed a three-year contract with Napoli. The objective was to build a solid base, not a base that could collapse after the first [difficult] situation.

“The first target was to return to Europe, not even the Champions League. In my mind, the last step to try to win the title was in the third year.”