Antonio Conte redirected focus from the transfer market to Napoli's first home game of the season as they aim to get their campaign back on track. (More Football News)
Conte, who took charge of Gli Azzurri in June, watched on as his side lost 3-0 to Hellas Verona last week, prompting questions about the club's am☂bitions in the market.
The club have made four signings so far, with their most recent addition coming earlier💟 this week as Davi🐭d Neres joined from Benfica in a £23.8million deal.
Napoli are also in talks to sign Chelsea's Romelu Lukaku, with striker Victor Osimhen report🌺edly going the other way.
However, Conte🦋 was in no mood to talk about potential incomings ahead of facing Bologna this weekend, saying: "Let's redirect th🐓e press conference immediately.
"Last week we had a press conference 💙where we spoke only about the transfer marke𝓀t.
"I received zero questions about Verona, or maybe one.🎐 There was no talk of football, and then what happened, h✤appened.
"Regarding the market yo﷽u need to ask the club, but I see you are qui🅠te informed because I also read about it through you.
"Let's focus everything around the game, it's more imp✨ortant for me."
Napoli are aiming to improve on their 10th place finish in Serie A last season, hav⭕ing won the Scudetto the previous year under Luciano Spalletti.
But their wastefuln🐼ess in front of goal proved costly against Verona, with only four of their 14 shots on target at the Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi.
During the 2023-24 campaign, they scored 55 ꧙goals, 34 fewer than champions Inter and 22 less than they managed during their title-winning season.
Conte had previously mentioned the need for reconstruction at the club, with the🎐ir defeat against Verona underlining their🎀 areas for improvement.
"Maybe it was good that this blow came immediate♏ly, it brought us back to reality, me, the club and fans, the players perhaps," Conte said.
"What makes me ha꧒ppy is to have perceived that the playeಌrs understood what happened, I saw in them great motivation to start again and get out of these difficulties.
"When things go well, everyone is good. In difficulties, yo🦩u see real men. We can also lose, but not in thatꦦ way."
Napoli's defeat in their first Serie A match of the season 🅠was their first since the 2015-16 campaign, and only once in the three points for a win era have they registered two losses in their first two league games (2000-01 under Zdenek Zeman).
And Conte faces a🐻 difficult task to get their first points on the board, with Bologna, who qualified for the Champions League last yea♛r, the visitors to Naples.
But the 55-year-old Italian was keen to put their opening day humbling behind them a🐼nd focus on putti♔ng things right on home soil.
"I understan🃏d the difficulties, the second ❀half in Verona can leave an aftermath, but we don't have time, not on the pitch and not in the stands," he said.
"There is an important game, three points, and all of us have to sen✨d a signal."
