Allegri backs De Bruyne to enjoy second season at Napoli

Syndicated reporting provided by Stats Perform and reviewed by the SoccerNews editorial team.

Massimiliano Allegri has backed Kevin De Bruyne to enjoy his second season with Napoli after a frustrating debut campaign.

De Bruyne played just 21 games in 2025-26 after suffering a thigh injury, scoring five goals and recording four assists following his free transfer to Italy.

The Belgium international was also critical of Antonio Conte’s tactics, even claiming he would have left the club if Conte had not been replaced by Allegri this summer.

And Allegri sees De Bruyne providing a bigger impact this season after being surprised by the midfielder’s fitness ahead of their Serie A opener against Genoa.

“He arrived later on, but he’s already in good shape,” Allegri said of De Bruyne.

“I didn’t think he’d already be at this level after 10 days. Big players can play everywhere; they know how to play there and can find the best position.”

Il report della seduta mattutina https://t.co/4F7KLBgfEP

— Official SSC Napoli (@sscnapoli) August 21, 2026

Napoli finished second in Serie A last term, 11 points behind Inter, as the Partenopei’s title defence was not successful.

While Inter have been backed as favourites to retain the Scudetto by many, Allegri believes it could be an open battle.

“We won’t talk about favourites, but Inter have the Scudetto on their chests, so, logically, they are favourites,” Allegri said.

“It will be a thrilling season with seven teams, eight with Inter [fighting for the title]: Napoli, Inter, Juventus, Milan, Como, Roma, Fiorentina and Atalanta.

“It’s all to be discovered, and you have to be good and balanced.

“In 15 days, the Champions League starts, and that’s another goal, another wonderful competition, and then there’s the Coppa Italia. The team must remain competitive in all competitions.”

Colombo’s first Serie A goal came against Napoli in August 2022 whilst playing for Lecce (two goals in total for him against the Partenopei).

Last season, the 2002-born player set his personal best for goals scored in a single Serie A season (seven, five of which were in home games).

Genoa are the side against whom Hojlund has scored the most goals in Serie A (three), including his third and most recent brace in the competition.

Hojlund has scored in his last two league games (against Udinese and Pisa) and could score in three consecutive Serie A appearances for only the second time, after doing so in January 2023 with Atalanta.

Napoli are unbeaten in 25 of their last 26 Serie A matches against Genoa (W17 D8), winning both encounters last season; the Grifone’s only victory in this period was in February 2021.

Genoa and Napoli will face each other on the opening matchday of a Serie A season for the third time in the three-points-for-a-win era (since 1994-95), after 2014-15 and 2011-12; Napoli won both of these previous encounters.

Napoli have won eight of their last nine Serie A opening-day matches (L1), scoring 23 goals in the process (2.6 on average); the only game in this run in which they failed to score was a 3-0 defeat against Hellas Verona in 2024.

Genoa, meanwhile, have drawn their last two Serie A opening-day fixtures (0-0 against Lecce last season and 2-2 against Inter in 2024-25); the Grifone could record three consecutive draws on the opening matchday for the first time in the competition.

Only Inter (29) scored more set-piece goals than Genoa (21) in the 2025-26 Serie A season; of these, eight came from indirect free-kicks and four from throw-ins, both records for Genoa.

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