First the championship victory 33 years after Maradona, then the sensational divorce from Napoli. It didn’t end well between Luciano Spalletti and the Italian president Aurelio De Laurentiis. Napoli, led by the Tuscan coach, dominated the 2022-23 season, becoming athematic Champions of Italy with five matchdays to spare and closing the tournament with 90 points and +16 on second-placed Lazio. But the third championship in the history of the Azzurri did not satisfy the ambitions of president De Laurentiis.
“I expected to win the Champions League. If Inter…”
Speaking at the press conference, “ADL” returned to last season and did not tell former coach Spalletti, now the national team’s technical commissioner. “I expected to win the Champions League last year. Inter came close to finishing 20 points behind us…”, the words of the Napoli owner. The Azzurri were eliminated by Milan in the quarter-finals of the tournament (the Rossoneri won the first leg at San Siro 1-0 and drew 1-1 at Maradona). While Simone Inzaghi’s Inter, who finished third in the championship -18 behind Napoli, reached the final where he was defeated dal Manchester City (1-0 goals at Rodri).
Spalletti’s contract option
“Io I took on the blame for this start to the season, because I had done well with Spalletti’s contract which is not bilateral, it is unilateral. The option had to be exercised – said the Napoli president -. The option in Spalletti’s contract provided for a further year, and I had the right to exercise it within the predetermined deadline at the end of the season and to do so with a written declaration. It’s not a kindness or nicety that I did but a fact due to legal enforcement. I therefore took on the blame for this start to the season because I had signed Spalletti well.”
“I had the feeling that Spalletti heard from the Football Federation”
“At the Maschio Angioino at the Bearzot Prize I told the public: ‘Spalletti will stay with us’ and he didn’t deny it, he didn’t say anything. Then there was the elimination from the Champions League which disappointed me greatly – added AdL – and after 21 April to boost Spalletti’s morale I told him I wasn’t angry for the elimination and I legally sent him the exercise of the option via certified e-mail, which was the legal method. I would never have believed that at the dinner on May 12th, a long time later, Chiavelli and I Spalletti informed us that he wanted to take a break to return to being a farmer on his land in Tuscany. I could behave by saying that I had used the option and it had to stay. My mistake was also after the scudetto, also because I had the feeling that Spalletti heard from the Football Federation for the national team and in fact he went there“.
“Garcia? Either I sent him away, or I kept quiet.”
After the farewell to Spalletti, the choice to focus on Rudy Garcia. But the Frenchman was sacked in November after the home defeat against Empoli to be replaced by former player Walter Mazzarri. “Why did I send him away? I went down to the locker room saying that he was wrong to play like that, he told me: ‘Let me do it’. Either I sent him away, or I kept quiet. At halftime I said to him: ‘What the f… do you want to do? Do you want to get kicked out?’ This damn Empoli always creates problems for us, even with Spalletti.”