Kevin De Bruyne is unsure whether Napoli will be his final club, although the former Manchester City star admits he has lost some of his passion for football in recent years.

De Bruyne made his first Serie A start since October ahead of the international break, having missed a large chunk of Napoli's season due to a thigh injury.

And after coming through two starts with Belgium, against two World Cup co-hosts in the United States and Mexico, De Bruyne should be involved when AC Milan visit the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona for a blockbuster clash on Monday.

De Bruyne has four goals and two assists in 14 appearances for Napoli since joining on a free transfer last year, following a trophy-laden decade with Man City.   

And while the 34-year-old admits he now views football as a job, rather than a passion, he expects to continue playing until his body tells him otherwise. 

Asked by La Gazzetta dello Sport if Napoli would be his last club, De Bruyne said: "I don't know that, I don't think about it now. 

"I think I can still play for a few years, then when the body tells me to stop, I will do it. But for now, I feel good.

"I wanted to continue playing at a high level, and at Napoli there was the possibility of doing so. It was the best choice for everyone. 

"I don't think I still love football as much as I did in the beginning. But I imagine it's normal after 30 years. 

"Sometimes it happens that you lose a bit of interest, like in any job, I suppose. I also don't know what I'm going to do after my career. First I want to enjoy my family, because they have made a lot of sacrifices."

Napoli sit third in Serie A, one point and one place below Milan, with both teams viewed as outsiders for the title. 

That is because Inter boast a six-point advantage at the summit and are assigned an 89.1% chance of capturing the title by the Opta supercomputer, and Rossoneri boss Massimiliano Allegri is still focused on securing a top-four finish.

"When we are mathematically sure of being in the top four, then we can think about something else," Allegri told reporters in his pre-match press conference.

"Football is fantastic, but in 15 days you can see seven months of work turned on its head. We mustn't say that we want to win, because it doesn't achieve anything. 

"When you work at a club like Milan or Napoli, you must have ambition, but having ambition and actually winning are two different things.

"So, we must continue looking over our shoulders, especially as getting back into the Champions League is in our hands, just as the Scudetto is in Inter's hands."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Napoli – Scott McTominay 

Among midfielders, only Nico Paz (10) and Danilo Cataldi (nine) have earned more points for their teams through goals and assists combined than McTominay (eight points, via seven goals, three assists) this season, with Milan's Adrien Rabiot also on eight. 

McTominay, who is one goal involvement away from 50 in Europe's top five leagues (49), could become only the second midfielder to score 20 goals in his first two Serie A seasons in the three-points-for-a-win era (currently 19), after Henrikh Mkhitaryan in 2019-20 and 2020-21 (22).

AC Milan – Mike Maignan 

Maignan's next match in Serie A will be his 150th in the competition. This season, he has prevented 9.7 goals, according to Opta's expected goals on target (xGOT) model, conceding only 23 goals (excluding own goals) from 32.7 xGOT. 

Across the top five European leagues this season, only Herve Koffi of Angers (10.3) boasts a higher goals prevented tally than the Milan captain.

MATCH PREDICTION – DRAW

In the last five Serie A seasons (from 2021-22 to now), the balance of matches between Napoli and Milan is perfectly even, with four wins apiece and one draw. 

This follows a period spanning the previous 10 campaigns (between 2011-12 and 2020-21) where Napoli only lost two of their 20 encounters with the Rossoneri (10 wins, eight draws).

This will be the first time in Serie A history that Napoli and Milan have played each other at least 30 games into a season while separated by a maximum of one point in the table. 

The smallest gap between the two sides after at least the same number of games was previously two points (+2 for the Rossoneri in May 1936; +2 for the Partenopei in July 2020), and on both occasions, Napoli remained unbeaten (one win, one draw).

Napoli have won each of their last four Serie A matches and could record five consecutive victories for the first time in this league campaign. 

The last time an Antonio Conte side achieved this in a single league season was a run of seven between December 2024 and January 2025, in Napoli's Scudetto-winning campaign, but Milan may be able to frustrate them.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Napoli – 38.3%

AC Milan – 32%

Draw – 29.7%