Kevin De Bruyne 'a problem' for Antonio Conte at Napoli as unforeseen nightmare emerges

Manchester City legend Kevin De Bruyne has seemingly ruffled some feathers around Napoli after a sluggish start to life in Italy saw him vent his frustration at the weekend

Former Napoli general manager Pierpaolo Marino has declared Kevin De Bruyne a problem at Napoli.

The Belgian star's Manchester City contract expired at the end of last season, and he joined the Italian giants on a free transfer to mark the next step in his career.

De Bruyne, 34, has failed to set the pitch alight since joining up with former Chelsea boss Antonio Conte — though three goals have followed, two have been from the penalty spot.

The veteran has been substituted in four of his six matches since joining Napoli, and he did not react well to being replaced against AC Milan at the weekend.

After 72 minutes, the midfielder was substituted along with former Manchester United stars Scott McTominay and Rasmus Hojlund. Eljif Elmas, David Neres, and Lorenzo Lucca entered the fray as Conte's side chased the game.

Making his way off the pitch, De Bruyne expressed his frustration and appeared to motion in Conte's direction as he headed to the bench.

And the maestro hasn't impressed everyone, with ex-Napoli chief Marino taking aim. The Italian reckons the introduction has hampered Scott McTominay too.

The Scotland international, who was named Serie A's best player last term, has not scored since the opening day of the season.

"Is De Bruyne there or is he a reminder of what he used to be? So far he hasn't had a say on a free kick or a penalty and De Bruyne is now a problem for Conte," Marino told TeleVomero.

"If he gets simple things wrong, then you see how merciless the comparison with Modric [against Milan] was, who at 40 has achieved what De Bruyne hasn't done so far at Napoli. Napoli have changed a midfield that worked very well for De Bruyne and at the moment it doesn't work."

Addressing the nightmare concern for Napoli, Marino continued: "De Bruyne is stepping on McTominay's toes, who isn't producing goals and finishing like last year, and that's obvious.

"It's a huge problem. Kevin even disputes the substitution because he's convinced he's also making a huge contribution. Napoli has only made an impact this season by taking penalties, but you don't need a player of De Bruyne's calibre for those."

Following De Bruyne's outburst at the weekend, Conte made his position clear. "I hope De Bruyne was upset about the substitution because of the result, because otherwise he's got the wrong guy," he said, per Gazzetta Dello Sport.

"I tried to bring in fresh players for one-on-one situations, given that Milan were closing down a lot. I replaced Hojlund with Lucca. There's not much to say, I think the substitutions were the right ones."

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