According to widely reported details confirmed by transfer insider Fabrizio Romano, Conte communicated his intentions to the club hierarchy approximately a month ago, and the two parties are understood to have since reached a mutual understanding. Napoli’s final league fixture of the campaign is at home to Udinese, after which the departure will be made official.

The decision comes as a significant surprise given that Conte still has a year remaining on his contract, which was due to run until the summer of 2027. In walking away voluntarily and ahead of schedule, he is understood to be foregoing an estimated eight million euros in wages that would have been owed to him in that final year. In a further reflection of the amicable nature of the split, there will be no exit fee or severance pay involved.

De Laurentiis, for his part, had previously indicated publicly that he would not stand in the way of Conte should the manager wish to leave, and that position has held throughout the behind-the-scenes negotiations.

The decision is reported to have been driven by personal reasons, as well as a belief within the Conte camp that the right moment to depart had arrived. It was not a snap judgment made in the heat of the season’s final weeks, but rather a considered conclusion the Italian had arrived at some time before making his feelings known to the club. In a poignant farewell gesture on Tuesday, Conte visited Palazzo San Giacomo to meet with the Mayor of Naples, Gaetano Manfredi, who had been among his most vocal admirers during his time in the city, praising the former Inter Milan boss for his unrelenting hunger for success.

Conte’s two seasons at Napoli will be remembered as a story of significant achievement despite the circumstances in which he took charge. He arrived in the summer of 2024 to rebuild a club that had slumped to a 10th-place finish in the preceding campaign, and within a year had led them to the Serie A title, one of the most remarkable single-season turnarounds in recent Italian football history. He also won the Supercoppa Italiana during the current campaign.

However, the second season proved considerably more demanding, with injuries mounting and the additional strain of Champions League football taking a toll on the squad’s consistency in the league.

With his Napoli chapter closing, attention has already turned to what comes next for one of European football’s most sought-after managers. Conte currently has no pre-agreement with any club, and the possibility of a sabbatical year has been raised in Italian media circles.

However, his name has emerged prominently as a leading candidate to return as Italy national team manager, a role he previously held from 2014 to 2016. The Italian Football Federation faces a presidential election on 22 June, and it is widely expected that whoever assumes the presidency will prioritise luring Conte back to lead the Azzurri ahead of their bid to end a run of three consecutive failures to qualify for the World Cup.