While the Partenopeo club is still in the running for a historic scudetto, a storm broods behind the scenes. Antonio Conte, arrived last summer with the promise of an ambitious project and a competitive team over time, is now on the verge of rupture with President Aurelio de Laurentiis. Behind the facade smiles, the discomfort is palpable: lack of real investments, lack of sports guarantees, unsuitable infrastructure, deep divergences on the vision of the club in the short and medium term … So many frustrations which, accumulated for months, broke out in broad daylight during public interventions of the coach. Antonio Conte, renowned for his requirement and his thirst for victory, refuses to take on the role of the Savior in an environment which he deems unsuitable for his ambitions. And despite the prospect of a champion title, the Italian no longer hesitates to question the entire Neapolitan project, threatening with a premature departure. A few days before the end of an incandescent championship, Naples holds his breath: the immediate future of the club is played not only on the field, but especially in the offices where the ultimate face-to-face between Conte and Laurentiis will decide the fate of a whole season … and perhaps much more.
The Italian technician is bound by a contract until 2027 with the Partenopéens, but the bad atmosphere that reigns is now obvious. And it can only lead to a conclusion. The championship has never been such a concrete hypothesis for Naples as this April, equal points with Inter and with a final calendar which authorizes to believe in prohibited dreams. However, Naples lives with anxiety for a historic moment and the paradox is that the tension does not come from the outside, but is produced internally by those who build the dream of the fourth title of Naples day after day. The fall of Inter in Bologna and the consecutive hanging at the top of the ranking, which occurred on Easter Sunday, has silenced the background noise which accompanies the beautiful epic of the Campania club. Difficult to believe in it, but there is an internal fire in Naples. And Antonio Conte may well leave the ship quickly. In Naples, the sporting euphoria hides deep cracks.
The Scudetto will not be enough …
Antonio Conte threw his cards on the table at the Easter weekend and did it with such a precipitation and determination that he could not think that it was only the trigger of a man under pressure. In essence, the Lecce native coach publicly declared all the reasons for his dissatisfaction confirming the rumors that for weeks wanted him to be undecided on his future under the Vesuvius: “At the beginning of the year I said a lot, some that I can confirm them and others not. I do not give up anything, but I became aware of certain dynamics, such as the discourse of Kvaratskhelia. I had said that Naples should not be a passing club, now I would not want to pass for a liar on unexpected things. In eight months here, I understood that a lot could not be done». The size of Naples is not that of a large club where certain dynamics can be controlled as elsewhere. A coach reigns, but does not govern. Antonio Conte is aware that the Neapolitan supporter wants to win. He does not want to be seen as the culprit of possible failures if the project is not adequate. The former Juventus coach has also indirectly criticized the state of training grounds, by connecting it to the high number of muscle injuries suffered by the workforce, a not too veiled way of highlighting the club's infrastructural deficiencies. Either Aurelio de Laurentiis guarantees serious investments, or it will already be time to fold luggage.
Regardless of the Scudetto, Conte thinks they have returned what he owed to the city and the team. He is currently morally free to decide his future: “As you give me responsibilities, I don't want to disappoint supporters. I cannot experience miracles and not programming. I have esteem and affection for the president. They asked me a helping hand and I give them, but the Neapolitan supporter wants to win and has this ambition. If he does not win, he also becomes mean. I have to calculate everything, I'm not stupid. I put myself a lot of pressure, but I must also have the right weapons. Otherwise it's a game with a massacre and I don't want to be massacred. We will sit with the president to speak and see. The Champions League recipes will arrive, the assignment of Kvara has helped. I have done everything with interests, but now we are going to talk to the president clearly. I was welcomed, I said, 'I haven't given you anything and you gave it to me'. Now I think something has turned around. Now calmly, we will try to finish the championship by trying to win this championship because it would be something extraordinary, because these children deserve it». Vesuvius is about to get into eruption …
