6 days ago
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Kevin De Bruyne was given a king's welcome at Napoli when joining the Serie A giants earlier this summer, but a section of the club's fans have already turned on the Manchester City great
Napoli fans have launched scathing criticism at Kevin De Bruyne for a similar reason Pep Guardiola once called out one of his Manchester City stars for.
The 33-year-old signed a two-year deal with the Serie A giants earlier this summer after his contract with the Citizens was not renewed, bringing an end to his 10-year spell in Manchester.
Despite not being the dominant force he once was in years prior, De Bruyne's arrival in Naples was a huge coup for the club, who were fresh off winning their second league title in three years.
While the fanfare surrounding his signing was significant, the Belgian has yet to hit the ground running in pre-season, with Napoli winning just one of their four matches thus far.
Three of the clubs they faced currently play in the lower divisions of Italian football with De Bruyne failing to open his account. While Napoli have three games left before the beginning of the season, the club's passionate fans have already lambasted the Premier League legend online.
Supporters have taken aim at De Bruyne's physique, with many heading to social media and suggesting he's not in tip-top condition ahead of their Serie A title defence and return to Champions League football.
One fan wrote: "Anyone with a technical eye would have seen that yesterday De Bruyne was running with incredible heaviness and was often inaccurate with his through balls." Another harshly added: "Give him an XL shirt, you’re letting him eat too much."
The accusations levied at the midfielder was once a topic brought up by Guardiola, who publicly criticised Kalvin Phillips for being overweight. The Spaniard said the England international was over his weight target upon his return from the 2022 World Cup in December.
Phillips - who's played just 31 games for the Citizen since signing for £42million in 2022 - received a belated apology from Guardiola who admitted his wrongdoing. "Yeah, I’m sorry," he said. "Once in eight years is not bad.
"But I’m so sorry. I apologise to him. I spoke to him before [making the comment]. I never, ever don’t speak to the team before I say something here, or the player in that case."
The midfielder has gone out on loan twice with West Ham and Ipswich Town during his time with City, and he previously discussed Guardiola's comments about his weight.
In an interview with The Guardian, he said: "After the World Cup was probably the toughest, when Pep came out and said I was overweight. He was right to do so but there are different ways to go about it.
"I did not disagree with him but obviously I took a big knock on my confidence and how I felt at City. And my family were not happy about it, either. Especially my mum... It was just a misunderstanding and I think he was very frustrated with me coming back 1.5kg over my weight target."
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