ROME (AP) — It’s no secret that Antonio Conte was extremely disappointed when Khvicha Kvaratskhelia left Napoli for Paris Saint-Germain in January.
So it might take a big acquisition like Kevin De Bruyne to keep the demanding coach at freshly crowned Serie A champion.
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Napoli fans celebrate after winning the Italian league soccer title, in Naples, Italy, Friday, May 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Salvatore Laporta)
Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne greets supporters after his final home game during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Bournemouth at the Etihad stadium in Manchester, England, Tuesday, May 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
Napoli fans celebrate after winning the Italian league soccer title, in central Naples, Italy, Friday, May 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Salvatore Laporta)
Napoli's head coach Antonio Conte celebrates during the awarding ceremony after winning the Italian league soccer title at the end of the Serie A soccer match between Napoli and Cagliari at the Diego Maradona stadium in Naples, Italy, Saturday, May 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne waves to supporters after his final home game during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Bournemouth at the Etihad stadium in Manchester, England, Tuesday, May 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
De Bruyne is at the top of Napoli’s wish list. But there are no guarantees that the midfielder, who is leaving Manchester City after a decade, will land with the southern club.
At Napoli, De Bruyne could reunite with Belgium teammate Romelu Lukaku. And follow in the footsteps of former Napoli great Dries Mertens, another Belgium teammate.
“He’s a strong player that we like. But we’re not the only ones following him,” Napoli sporting director Giovanni Manna said hours before Napoli sealed its fourth Italian league title on Friday.
It also remains to be seen what type of impact the potential arrival of De Bruyne would have on fellow midfielder Scott McTominay.
McTominay was Napoli’s breakout star this season and scored a spectacular opening goal in the 2-0 win over Cagliari that secured the title.
Conte was widely credited with restoring Napoli to success this season following the Partenopei’s 10th-place finish a year ago under three different coaches. But he has always enjoyed the challenge of building a team into a champion, whereas duplicating a previous season’s success has been less appealing.
So it was unsurprising that Conte was inconclusive when he was asked just before the trophy ceremony if he would stay on at the southern squad.
“Let’s enjoy the title for now. I have a good relationship with the president,” Conte said, referring to Aurelio De Laurentiis. “We had the chance to get to know each other this season. We are two winners. We might be winners in different ways, but we are both winners.”
Conte has two more seasons remaining on his contract but might be interested in returning to Juventus if the struggling Bianconeri have an opening as expected.
“Never say never,” De Laurentiis said. “Coaches have their own character that must be respected and in my view you should never oblige them under iron-clad contracts. Napoli is Napoli, it deserves respect. If he wants to put himself at the disposal of the club the way he has done this season, then we say, ‘Welcome.’ we are ready to follow him like a great leader."
“Next year, I would be very pleased if he made his mark in the Champions League,” De Laurentiis added.
Wherever he coaches, Conte will want to have a say in the market moves. While he was taken aback when Kvaratskhelia — one of the standouts of Napoli's 2023 title team — left midseason, in the end it was McTominay and Lukaku — the two players who Conte wanted most when he arrived at Napoli — who secured the latest title.
McTominay was named the Italian league's player of the season after leaving boyhood club Manchester United, while Lukaku scored 14 goals and provided a league-best 10 assists. Both scored against Cagliari.
De Bruyne, who turns 34 next month, will soon be out of contract at City and has announced that he is leaving the club that he helped win 16 major trophies during a period of unprecedented dominance.
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Napoli fans celebrate after winning the Italian league soccer title, in Naples, Italy, Friday, May 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Salvatore Laporta)
Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne greets supporters after his final home game during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Bournemouth at the Etihad stadium in Manchester, England, Tuesday, May 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
Napoli fans celebrate after winning the Italian league soccer title, in central Naples, Italy, Friday, May 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Salvatore Laporta)
Napoli's head coach Antonio Conte celebrates during the awarding ceremony after winning the Italian league soccer title at the end of the Serie A soccer match between Napoli and Cagliari at the Diego Maradona stadium in Naples, Italy, Saturday, May 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne waves to supporters after his final home game during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Bournemouth at the Etihad stadium in Manchester, England, Tuesday, May 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
U.S. forces have boarded another oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea. The announcement was made Friday by the U.S. military. The Trump administration has been targeting sanctioned tankers traveling to and from Venezuela.
The pre-dawn action was carried out by U.S. Marines and Navy, taking part in the monthslong buildup of forces in the Caribbean, according to U.S. Southern Command, which declared “there is no safe haven for criminals” as it announced the seizure of the vessel called the Olina.
Navy officials couldn’t immediately provide details about whether the Coast Guard was part of the force that took control of the vessel as has been the case in the previous seizures. A spokesperson for the U.S. Coast Guard said there was no immediate comment on the seizure.
The Olina is the fifth tanker that has been seized by U.S. forces as part of a broader effort by Trump’s administration to control the distribution of Venezuela’s oil products globally following the U.S. ouster of President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid.
The latest:
Richard Grenell, president of the Kennedy Center, says a documentary film about first lady Melania Trump will make its premiere later this month, posting a trailer on X.
As the Trumps prepared to return to the White House last year, Amazon Prime Video announced a year ago that it had obtained exclusive licensing rights for a streaming and theatrical release directed by Brett Ratner.
Melania Trump also released a self-titled memoir in late 2024.
Some artists have canceled scheduled Kennedy Center performances after a newly installed board voted to add President Donald Trump’s to the facility, prompting Grenell to accuse the performers of making their decisions because of politics.
Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum says that she has asked her foreign affairs secretary to reach out directly to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio or Trump regarding comments by the American leader that the U.S. cold begin ground attacks against drug cartels.
In a wide-ranging interview with Fox News aired Thursday night, Trump said, “We’ve knocked out 97% of the drugs coming in by water and we are going to start now hitting land, with regard to the cartels. The cartels are running Mexico. It’s very sad to watch.”
As she has on previous occasions, Sheinbaum downplayed the remarks, saying “it is part of his way of communicating.” She said she asked her Foreign Affairs Secretary Juan Ramón de la Fuente to strengthen coordination with the U.S.
Sheinbaum has repeatedly rebuffed Trump’s offer to send U.S. troops after Mexican drug cartels. She emphasizes that there will be no violation of Mexico’s sovereignty, but the two governments will continue to collaborate closely.
Analysts do not see a U.S. incursion in Mexico as a real possibility, in part because Sheinbaum’s administration has been doing nearly everything Trump has asked and Mexico is a critical trade partner.
Trump says he wants to secure $100 billion to remake Venezuela’s oil infrastructure, a lofty goal going into a 2:30 meeting on Friday with executives from leading oil companies. His plan rides on oil producers being comfortable in making commitments in a country plagued by instability, inflation and uncertainty.
The president has said that the U.S. will control distribution worldwide of Venezuela’s oil and will share some of the proceeds with the country’s population from accounts that it controls.
“At least 100 Billion Dollars will be invested by BIG OIL, all of whom I will be meeting with today at The White House,” Trump said Friday in a pre-dawn social media post.
Trump is banking on the idea that he can tap more of Venezuela’s petroleum reserves to keep oil prices and gasoline costs low.
At a time when many Americans are concerned about affordability, the incursion in Venezuela melds Trump’s assertive use of presidential powers with an optical spectacle meant to convince Americans that he can bring down energy prices.
Trump is expected to meet with oil executives at the White House on Friday.
He hopes to secure $100 billion in investments to revive Venezuela’s oil industry. The goal rides on the executives’ comfort with investing in a country facing instability and inflation.
Since a U.S. military raid captured former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro on Saturday, Trump has said there’s a new opportunity to use the country’s oil to keep gasoline prices low.
The full list of executives invited to the meeting has not been disclosed, but Chevron, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips are expected to attend.
Attorneys general in five Democratic-led states have filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s administration after it said it would freeze money for several public benefit programs.
The Trump administration has cited concerns about fraud in the programs designed to help low-income families and their children. California, Colorado, Minnesota, Illinois and New York states filed the lawsuit Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
The lawsuit asks the courts to order the administration to release the funds. The attorneys general have called the funding freeze an unconstitutional abuse of power.
Iran’s judiciary chief has vowed decisive punishment for protesters, signaling a coming crackdown against demonstrations.
Iranian state television reported the comments from Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei on Friday. They came after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei criticized Trump’s support for the protesters, calling Trump’s hands “stained with the blood of Iranians.”
The government has shut down the internet and is blocking international calls. State media has labeled the demonstrators as “terrorists.”
The protests began over Iran’s struggling economy and have become a significant challenge to the government. Violence has killed at least 50 people, and more than 2,270 have been detained.
Trump questions why a president’s party often loses in midterm elections and suggests voters “want, maybe a check or something”
Trump suggested voters want to check a president’s power and that’s why they often deliver wins for an opposing party in midterm elections, which he’s facing this year.
“There’s something down, deep psychologically with the voters that they want, maybe a check or something. I don’t know what it is, exactly,” he said.
He said that one would expect that after winning an election and having “a great, successful presidency, it would be an automatic win, but it’s never been a win.”
Hiring likely remained subdued last month as many companies have sought to avoid expanding their workforces, though the job gains may be enough to bring down the unemployment rate.
December’s jobs report, to be released Friday, is likely to show that employers added a modest 55,000 jobs, economists forecast. That figure would be below November’s 64,000 but an improvement after the economy lost jobs in October. The unemployment rate is expected to slip to 4.5%, according to data provider FactSet, from a four-year high of 4.6% in November.
The figures will be closely watched on Wall Street and in Washington because they will be the first clean readings on the labor market in three months. The government didn’t issue a report in October because of the six-week government shutdown, and November’s data was distorted by the closure, which lasted until Nov. 12.
FILE - President Donald Trump dances as he walks off stage after speaking to House Republican lawmakers during their annual policy retreat, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
