Kevin De Bruyne, Napoli's 35-year-old Belgian midfielder, is set to return to training next week after an extended break — walking back into a dressing room that, by multiple accounts, has grown frustrated with his absence. The timing is pointed: preseason is already underway under new head coach Max Allegri, and De Bruyne has not been part of it.
The friction matters because Allegri's Napoli is still taking shape. The former Juventus and Milan manager has been publicly measured about the squad, saying after a 2-0 friendly victory over Carrarese that he would evaluate what he has at the end of the transfer window. That is a reasonable position for a coach in his first weeks. But De Bruyne's absence has not made that evaluation easier, and the reported mood among his colleagues suggests the patience inside Castel Volturno is not unlimited.
There is a structural tension here that De Bruyne's eventual return will not immediately dissolve. His 2025-26 season under Antonio Conte — 17 appearances, five goals, one assist, an average rating of 7.00 — showed a player who could still contribute meaningfully when available and integrated. Those numbers, modest in volume but solid in quality, were the product of a system built around collective discipline. Allegri runs a different kind of operation, one that tends to demand full preseason buy-in from its key figures. De Bruyne has not provided that yet.
At 35, with a development potential rated at 45 out of 100, De Bruyne is no longer a player a club builds around. He is a player a club uses — precisely, sparingly, in the right moments. Allegri's public reticence on the transfer market suggests he is not rushing to replace De Bruyne, but it also suggests he is not anchoring his plans to him. The Belgian's value to this squad is real but conditional: it depends on fitness, on attitude, and on whether he and Allegri can establish a working relationship that neither has yet had the chance to form.
The colleagues awaiting his return are not wrong to be frustrated. Preseason is where trust is built, where a new manager reads his players and players read their manager. De Bruyne has missed that window. He can still contribute to Napoli's 2026-27 campaign — his quality at its best is not in question — but he will begin it having already spent some of the goodwill that a new regime typically extends.
Allegri has said the right things publicly, and the 2-0 win over Carrarese, built on contributions from others in the squad, suggests the work is progressing without him. De Bruyne's return next week will tell Allegri more than any preseason friendly has.