Matteo Politano described Kevin De Bruyne as a "champion" despite the midfielder seeing his first season with Napoli hampered by injury. 

De Bruyne arrived in Naples after a trophy-laden decade with Manchester City and was a marquee signing for Antonio Conte's side as they aimed to defend their Serie A title. 

However, the 34-year-old picked up a thigh injury after scoring a penalty in a 3-1 win over Inter, forcing him to undergo surgery and miss a large part of Napoli's campaign. 

He made his return to action in March and finished his debut campaign with Napoli having registered five goals and three assists in 20 appearances across all competitions. 

De Bruyne is one of several Napoli players to endure an injury-disrupted season, with the likes of Romelu Lukaku, Scott McTominay and David Neres also missing large parts. 

However, Politano believes that De Bruyne's absence affected Napoli the most, with the Partenopei failing to keep up with Inter at the top, who have since won the Scudetto. 

"We lost him for four months, and it was a significant absence," Politano said. "Having a champion of that level available is important and, unfortunately, we enjoyed him too little.

"It has been a long season with many commitments and injuries, but what we have built over these two years has been clear for all to see. 

"We faced difficult moments where we sometimes struggled to put 11 players on the pitch, but we always tried to give our maximum."

De Bruyne was not the only one singled out for praise by Politano, with young talent Antonio Vergara also impressing during his first full campaign with the first team. 

Vergara managed six goal involvements (three goals, three assists) in all competitions, while also completing 14 dribbles and creating 17 assists for his team-mates. 

"He has impressed me enormously, he has great desire and real character," Politano added. "He must play freely and think only of himself and the team."

Napoli end their 2025-26 Serie A season at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona against an Udinese side that are 10th and missed out on the chance to qualify for Europe. 

But one of their standout players this season has been defender Oumar Solet, who could have been playing for Napoli but decided against joining the Serie A giants. 

No player has won more tackles (56), won more duels (207) and played more successful passes (1,990) than Solet, who said he would not be going anywhere soon. 

"It's true that there was contact with Napoli in the past, but Red Bull Salzburg didn’t want to sell me," Solet told La Gazzetta dello Sport as quoted by Football Italia. 

"It is nice to be accosted to big clubs, but I am concentrated on Udinese. I am happy here, the club has faith in me, I play consistently and have the opportunity to grow.

"This is fundamental for me. Udinese made me feel at home. I live in the centre of a nice, tranquil city, which allows me to concentrate on my work."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Napoli – Rasmus Hojlund

Hojlund has registered one goal and two assists in his last two Serie A appearances, the same number of goal involvements he recorded in his previous 10 league games.

However, Udinese are the side against whom he has played the most minutes without being involved in a single goal in Serie A (204).

Udinese – Arthur Atta

Atta has scored three goals in his last three away appearances in Serie A, one more than he managed in his previous 25 away games in the competition (two goals).

He is also second among midfielders in Serie A for shots (26) after carries of 5+ metres, behind only his teammate Nicolo Zaniolo (28), who is currently injured.

MATCH PREDICTION: NAPOLI WIN

Napoli are unbeaten in 18 of their last 19 Serie A matches against Udinese (W14 D4), scoring 46 goals in the process (2.4 on average). However, their only defeat in this run came in their most recent encounter (0-1 on December 14).

And Napoli have avoided defeat in all of their last 14 home top-flight matches against Udinese, winning 12 of them. Udinese's last away league victory against Napoli was on 17 April 2011, with goals from Gokhan Inler and German Denis sealing a 2-1 win.

Conte's side also need just one point to mathematically secure a second-place finish in Serie A this season. Since 2015-16, this would be the sixth time they have finished in the top two positions at the end of a campaign, a record in that period, level with Inter.

Udinese, meanwhile, could complete a league double over Napoli for only the second time in Serie A, and for the first time since the 2010-11 season under Francesco Guidolin.

They could also surpass 50 points at the end of a Serie A season for the first time since 2012-13, when they finished on 66 and in fifth place under Guidolin.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Napoli – 61.1%

Draw – 21.8%

Udinese – 17.1%