Kevin De Bruyne made a rare return to social media last week, reminding Napoli fans that he still exists.
The Belgian joined in the summer in a mega move, with Antonio Conte’s Serie A champions securing one of the Premier League’s best-ever midfielders.
Yet sadly for everyone involved, De Bruyne tore his right thigh muscle on October 25th and hasn’t been seen since.
It’s more extreme than that, though, with Gazzetta dello Sport adding that he hasn’t even been seen in Italy let alone Naples.
The 34-year-old returned home to Belgium and has only recently been spotted training on a small beach next to the river in Antwerp.
On January 12th his only public appearance came when he was inducted into the Belgian Hall of Fame, a moment he celebrated on social media having not posted for a month since, or a month before.
Since his departure Napoli’s Serie A title charge has ended, and they exited the league phase of the Champions League as Conte’s horrendous record in the competition continued.
A Supercoppa triumph was snapped up, but a Coppa Italia exit secured a below par season and qualification for next season’s Champions League is now at risk.
The good news with De Bruyne
Yet there is some good news – Gazzetta add that De Bruyne is finally set to return to Naples in the coming weeks, and in all likelihood will be available for Conte in early March.
That may well be enough to secure a Champions League football, or as Conte put it: “What gives us hope is that a champion like Kevin, even if he’s not 100% fit, is still capable of making a difference.”
Leave a Reply