‘He’s got the wrong guy!’ – Conte issues BRUTAL warning to De Bruyne after Napoli meltdown

Napoli boss Antonio Conte has fired a brutal warning to Kevin De Bruyne after his angry reaction to being substituted against AC Milan on Sunday.

The Belgium international was replaced by Eljif Elmas in the 72nd minute of Napoli’s 2-1 defeat at San Siro and he was spotted expressing his frustration in Conte’s direction after being substituted.

De Bruyne had scored his third Serie A goal of the season from the penalty spot to reduce Milan’s advantage in the 60th minute, however he was withdrawn as part of a triple-change, with fellow ex-Premier League stars Scott McTominay and Rasmus Hojlund also substituted by Conte.

When asked about De Bruyne’s reaction during his post-match press conference, Conte told reporters (via The Daily Mail): “I hope De Bruyne was upset about the substitution because of the result, because otherwise he’s got the wrong guy.

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

De Bruyne has been started all six of Napoli’s competitive matches since his arrival on a Bosman deal from Manchester City, however he has been substituted in four of those appearances and he was forced to play on the left flank versus Milan in order to allow the aforementioned McTominay to be deployed centrally.

De Bruyne receives Napoli warning

De Bruyne had a number of disagreements with Pep Guardiola regarding substitutions during his time at Man City and this has evidently followed him to Italy.

Napoli were ultimately unable to find an equaliser without De Bruyne and their defeat to Milan was their first Serie A loss of the 2025-26 season. They are now in second-place in the Italian top flight table – level on points with the Rossoneri and AS Roma.

Conte’s side host Sporting CP in the Champions League on Wednesday evening, before facing Genoa in Serie A on Sunday.

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