Kevin De Bruyne’s wife, Michelle, has spoken candidly about the family’s difficult experience in Naples and admitted they often imagine returning to Belgium in the future.
The Belgian midfielder, 35, joined Napoli in the summer of 2025 after bringing an illustrious decade with Manchester City to an end.
His move to Serie A has proved more challenging than expected. De Bruyne struggled with fitness during his first campaign and also endured a strained relationship with then-manager Antonio Conte.
The team’s fortunes have not improved significantly under Max Allegri. Napoli are currently 10th in Serie A, while reports earlier this season claimed De Bruyne had been involved in a dressing-room confrontation with several team-mates.
Speaking to Belgian magazine NINA in September, Michelle, whom De Bruyne married in 2017, described the impact the move has had on their family.
‘Of course, we think about the future together,’ she said. ‘More and more often, we say to each other: “We are going to live here in Limburg. The sooner we get there, the better”.’
Kevin De Bruyne’s wife Michelle has spoken about the family’s difficult experience living in Naples
De Bruyne joined Napoli in the summer of 2025 after a glittering 10-year spell with Manchester City
Limburg is a province in Belgium. Although Michelle praised Naples for its beautiful surroundings, warm climate and excellent food, she explained that life in the Italian city had been demanding for De Bruyne and their three children, Mason, Rome and Suri.
‘Kevin lives a very restricted life in Naples,’ she said. ‘It isn’t much fun for him. We also cannot really do anything together as a family in the city. That is the other side of the coin, isn’t it?’
‘Manchester was different. In the area where we lived, people had seen us so often that we were no longer a novelty. We could leave the house without a single photograph being taken. In Naples, that is impossible.’
She continued: ‘At some point, football stops being the most important thing. You have achieved everything and experienced everything. Why would you then completely disrupt your children’s lives?’
De Bruyne, one of the highest-paid players in Italy, signed a two-year contract after arriving at Napoli. However, there has been uncertainty over whether he will remain with the club for the second season of that agreement.
Looking back on his first season ahead of the World Cup, De Bruyne said he was pleased that Conte had left Napoli.
‘It was obviously difficult for me because Conte has a completely different footballing vision to mine,’ De Bruyne said.
‘To be honest, I never had the chance to play in my preferred position. Even so, I always tried to give everything for the team. We played very defensively. If you try to win every match by a single goal using a 4-5-1 system, then you are naturally going to play a particular style of football.’
De Bruyne signed a two-year contract with Napoli and is not expected to extend his stay in Italy
‘At the beginning of the season, we defended even deeper. Our centre-forward scored only 10 goals, so the numbers were never going to look particularly good.’
He added: ‘Yes, I am happy Conte has gone. As far as I am concerned, he was not required to stay. There were promises made last summer about how we would play, but in the end, very little of that materialised.
‘I thought that was disappointing. Football should be enjoyable, and unfortunately, I felt that element was missing.
‘There is no point avoiding the issue: we have different ideas about football. I never had the opportunity to play in my position under Conte.’
