A surreal day that ends in the evening with farewell to Walter Mazzarri and the bench entrusted to Francesco Calzona, current coach of Slovakia and former deputy of Sarri first and then of Spalletti on the blue bench. Against Barcelona, in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16, There will be a new coach at Maradona on Wednesday after Mazzarri directed training today, while rumors of his imminent dismissal were swirling around the city.
Welcome to the new technician
“Now let’s welcome Calzona and try to help him”. Thus the president of Napoli, Aurelio De Laurentiis intercepted on the street by Sky Sport, spoke about the arrival of the new Napoli coach. Walter Mazzarri’s departure “was painful, I sacked a friend who was very helpful, but we have to give the fans something more” he added. Calzona will lead the first training session tomorrow. “Is betting on him a smart choice? Time is a gentleman, we’ll see“. “Is betting on him a smart choice? Time is a gentleman, we’ll see.”
The return of Marek Hamsik
As for the suggestion of seeing Marek Hamsik back in blue, De Laurentiis says: “I wasn’t able to speak to Hamsik today, I did it yesterday. Marek is very intrigued by the idea of returning to work for the team he loves, he is truly a champion of Napoli, he gave me a lot of satisfaction by giving up Milan and Juventus, it was a blue flag.”
Mazzarri: three month adventure
After the umpteenth disappointment of the draw at home with Genoa, grabbed at the last minute, and after a night of reflection, president De Laurentiis broke through and decided to hire the new coach who in reality is an old acquaintance to be he was already Maurizio Sarri’s deputy during his period at the helm of Napoli and also in Spalletti’s first year on the Azzurri bench.
Who is the new technician
Currently Calzona is technical commissioner of the Slovak national team, which he led to qualification for the European Championships scheduled for next June and July in Germany. The coach is expected to hold both positions until the end of the season. The Slovak Federation would have granted him the authorization also that De Laurentiis and the CEO Chiavelli are currently discussing with the managers of the Slovakian national team to finalize the final details of the agreement.
Lo staff
The new athletic trainer will also be included in the coaching staffFrancesco Sinatti who obtained the exemption from the FIGC. Even in this case it is a return. After the arrival of Garcia who had brought with him Paolo Rongoni, in fact, Sinatti had chosen to resign and immediately after had joined the FIGC in the group of collaborators of the Technical Commissioner Luciano Spalletti.
Mazzarri’s last training session
The Tuscan coach drove in the early afternoon at Castel Volturno the team’s training without having been informed of anything regarding company decisions. The players were tight-lipped as they left the Technical Centre. In the morning De Laurentiis had participated in an operational meeting together with his son Edoardoto the CEO Chiavelli, to the Sports Director, Meluso and to the club manager, Antonio Sinicropi at the conclusion of the who would have met Calzona who was in Naples also because in any case he would have attended the Champions League match against Barcelona, but instead of in the stands he will be on the bench, with the arduous task of reviving Napoli from a season to forget.