Football
Ben Gladwell, Italy correspondent 10y

Antonio Conte 'couldn't retain title'

Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis believes Antonio Conte left Juventus because he did not feel confident of winning a fourth Serie A title in a row.

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Speaking to Napoli fans at the club's preseason training camp, De Laurentiis feels his club are well equipped to win the league crown in the new season -- and that played a role in Conte's decision.

"Why do you think Conte left Juventus? Because he realised that it was going to be very complicated to win again," De Laurentiis said.

"He knew he couldn't win a fourth scudetto in a row. And when it comes to Europe, you can fail once, but you don't get excused if you do so again. The only thing left for him to do was to leave as a winner, take a holiday and take over the national team."

He added: "I want to win the league and we're going to be challenging for it. We're mature enough to win it.

"Last year we came third and were knocked out of the Champions League with great honour, and if we hadn't had so many injuries, who knows how things might have gone, so I'm counting on us this season.

"[Former coach Walter] Mazzarri used to always tell me 'president, just play everything down because otherwise the fans will never be happy', but I don't like telling lies, which is why I'm saying that this year, we're going to try to win."

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