Exclusive: Former Napoli Midfielder Hails De Bruyne Signing and Rejects Italy ‘Lack of Passion’ Claims

Claudio Ferrarese is a well-known former player in Italian football. He played for several important teams like Napoli, Verona, Cagliari, Torino, amongst others. 

In an exclusive interview we spoke about two hot topics in Italian football: the arrival of Kevin De Bruyne at Napoli and the debate about the Italian national team.

Kevin De Bruyne’s Impact at Napoli

After last season, when Napoli managed to win the title for the second time in three years, president De Laurentis made a huge transfer for the club by convincing Kevin De Bruyne to choose Napoli for the next phase of his illustrious career. 

This arrival made Napoli fans very happy, as the Belgian midfielder came from Manchester City, and many believed he would form a fantastic partnership with Romelu Lukaku. 

De Bruyne has shown in these first matches that he has integrated very well with his new teammates and, under a well-known coach like Conte, he has managed to score 3 goals in his first 5 matches.

Ferrarese, as a former Napoli player who knows the city, the fans, and the club very well, gives his opinion about Kevin De Bruyne’s arrival at Napoli and its impact. 

“The arrival of Kevin De Bruyne is an unbelievable thing for a club like Napoli, to have a player of such caliber and importance. This demonstrates Napoli’s growth in recent years and that now it is one of the most well-known and important teams in Europe," he told SportsBoom.com. 

"It also shows the incredible work that the club, under President De Laurentis, has done in recent years. I am sure that KDB will be a fundamental player for the club this season and will help the team a lot in Italy and in Europe. I also think that match after match, his performances will improve because he will better understand Italian football, the opponents, and Conte’s ideas.”

The Italian national team situation

Another important point of discussion in Italian football in recent years has been the national team, whose results have not been good. 

Many fans and analysts suggest that the players of the national team nowadays aren’t as good as before and don’t feel the shirt of the national team the same way as in the past. 

The situation of the Italian national team hasn’t been good in recent years, and they have changed different coaches for this reason. 

Recently, they changed the coach again, moving from Luciano Spalletti to Gennaro Gattuso. He started his experience in charge of the national team well, but it remains to be seen if Italy will qualify for the World Cup next year after missing two in a row.

Claudio, as a former midfielder who has played for the youth teams of the Italian national team, offered his thoughts about the national team. 

“Regarding the debate about the Italian national team and the players who supposedly no longer feel the shirt the same way, I disagree with this thesis. Yes, it’s true that times have changed and football is not the same as in the past, but I think players nowadays still feel the national team just as much," he said. 

"In the past, we didn’t have as many things as today’s footballers have, and maybe because of this it seems that our players today don’t feel the shirt as much as we did in the past. But despite all the changes and differences, I am sure that the importance of our national team shirt will never diminish, and everybody is giving, and will give, more than 100% for our national team.”