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Antonio Conte says his Napoli squad have “a lot of work to do” to rebuild chemistry after the club signed nine new players over the summer.
The Italian head coach was speaking after Napoli’s 6-2 defeat at PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League on Tuesday — their second loss in four days after a league defeat to Torino on Saturday.
“It’s definitely disappointing. When these situations happen, they never happen by chance,” Conte said after the match to Sky. “Last year we won the league with just a few players. They outdid themselves by being compact and staying united as a team. This year we have more games and brought in more players.
“Nine (signings) was too many for me but we had to do it. There’s no need to despair.
“We’ve a lot of work to do. We have to try to recreate the chemistry that we had last year. When you bring nine new faces into a dressing room, it’s going to take time.”
Seven of Napoli’s 16 players that featured against PSV were summer signings. Former Manchester City captain Kevin de Bruyne started alongside Vanja Milinkovic-Savic, Sam Beukema and Lorenzo Lucca.
Fellow newcomers Eljif Elmas, Noa Lang and Miguel Gutierrez also played as substitutes.
The last time the Serie A champions won, against Genoa on October 5, there were also six summer signings on the field, three of them starting.
Napoli won the Italian title in 2024-25, beating Inter to the Scudetto by one point. Former Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay won the league’s most valuable player (MVP) award, having arrived only the summer before.
This season Napoli have won six and lost four in all competitions. They sit third in Serie A one point behind leaders AC Milan, while Tuesday’s Champions League defeat keeps them 22nd in the league phase.
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