Non-competition clause or penalty in case of new assignment? It is between these two interpretations that the three million that Napoli are asking to free Spalletti and allow him to sit on the national team bench dance. A figure that De Laurentiis is currently demanding, but which neither the Football Federation nor Spalletti himself are willing to pay.
Right on point it is a matter of understanding not so much how the clause was called in black and white, but what emerges from the text as the substance of the agreement between the parties. If in fact it were clearly a non-competition clause, i.e. exploiting the knowledge acquired with the previous employer from a competitor, it would be difficult to claim its validity in the face of a position in a national and not a club team. Different however, and it is there that Napoli’s interpretation obviously hangs, if the agreement takes the form of a relief for having – essentially – created a problem for the club by asking them to release themselves from the contract in advance in the face of personal discomfort and the need to stop. At that point, if the requested stop is interrupted – in any way – you pay me for the inconvenience. This is the scenario, which is important to explore in order to then arrive at what everyone hopes for: an agreement that is above all based on common sense and good relations between the parties.