Luciano Spalletti spoke to Sky Sport about his farewell to Napoli and beyond: “The Neapolitans have given me unimaginable joy, I will carry them with me forever but I don’t know if at this moment I could have given them what they deserve. I’m tired, I need to be with my family and sort out some things. For now, I don’t think about returning to the bench, we’ll see in a few months.” Then a warning: “It’s enough to say that football is easy, we want to hear new things.” And a praise to Sky: “Fundamental for everyone’s growth”
At all Luciano Spalletti. From the sensations after the historic Scudetto with the Napoli farewell to the Azzurri, up to future plans and more: many topics covered by the former coach of the Italian champions, who spoke to Sky Sport from the stage in Certaldo, his hometown where he received an award: “It’s a special evening – began Spalletti – I was awarded in the town where I was born and where I played as a child, for me it means reopening the drawer of emotions and secrets. Am I happy now? We’ve already spent it what there is to say about happiness I’m happy because I was enveloped by this enthusiasm that has infected me, but for me happiness is something fleeting, which lasts an evening or a night and then the next day you’re looking for a correct setting to start again. It depends a bit on many things, because even if you love this sportfor which I have conditioned my life and my family, at one point you have to deal with the level of love you can give and the level of demand there is. Consequently, sometimes, even if you have done very well, you think you may be missing something to give back. The Neapolitans have given me so much joy that it is neither in heaven nor on earth. They have given me wonderful sensations, no finish line or any Scudetto could make me deserve all this joy and enthusiasm that they have given me. Consequentially I will always have something special for themI will always be watching what happens in Napoli and Napoli and I will always defend them.”
“I won’t go back to the bench for now. And it’s enough to say that football is easy: we want to hear new things”
No desire to return to the benchat least for the moment: “I see it as tough – continued Spalletti -, because I have to open all the boxes I took away from Naples and I have to put things in order. Furthermore I have some personal matters to sort out and for which some time is needed. They come to add to what I said: I’m tired, I had my family and a distant little daughter, I want to spend some time with her and with my family. In ten days the teams leave and me I don’t know with what enthusiasm I would have left if I had still been a coach of Serie A or the coach of Napoli. They deserve things that I can’t give right now, even if I’m very applied and determined. I’m fully executive, but then I’m afraid I’m missing something. For the moment I’m staying out, around December January or February we’ll look and we’ll see if you can have a suitable posture to go back to being a coach in the locker room, where synthesis is needed, making beautiful videos and you have to have new and modern things to say“. Spalletti therefore clarified the question: “Everyone can say that football is easy, something different needs to be said because we want to choose whether football is easy and that’s enough or if instead it has to become something modern, as happens in many other professions. I, like many others, want to hear something different: I repeat, that football is easy, everyone can say it. It is true that it is easy and in this sense you have to bring things made by people like Vialli, Mancini, Baggio, Del Piero and Totti with youbut then there is also the work of other players who did not have this quality to consider by God’s donation but they had to obtain it with day-to-day work and application. For this we need to explain how those without these qualities managed to make it and if there is more that can be made available to young people. Football needs quality and increasingly qualitative things“.
“I don’t know how I’ll feel at home. Thanks to Sky, essential for our work”
Still on the break, the former Napoli coach spoke about his own gap year: “I don’t know how I will feel, it depends on how I will arrive after a period in which I have consumed what I think I need. First I have to consume this need I have, then let’s see how I get there. I can probably also be disappointedsometimes I thought I was comfortable at home and after a while I thought it was better what I had before.” Talking about his work over the years, Spalletti wanted to praise the work of Sky Sport: “I strongly conditioned my life for the love I have for this sport. I made some video and gods contents to show the team that they are very important, thanks to those you go to find new solutions for the team that can determine a position in the standings or an extra victory, which can be the decisive one to turn around. Sky has been instrumental in this growthbecause it brought football into homes and it allowed us to go and catch situations we didn’t see before and that we had difficulty seeing to put something of our own. She has brought the stands behind the sofas and the changing rooms into the living rooms of the house, for this we have to thank Sky“.
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“I judge players by their character: Di Lorenzo is modern football”
Going back to dressing room management, Spalletti explained what he thinks must be a fundamental characteristic of his players and gave some examples thinking about last season: “I often judge a footballer for the character he has – the coach specified -, in my opinion it is fundamental. Of course, it needs to have quality, but a summary needs to be highlighted: the game is an empty box and you have to fill it with things, whoever puts in the most is the best player but we need to be able to stimulate everyone to give a bit of everything. I think about Kvaratskhelia: if in that box he also puts in recoveries and tackles, or two ‘shots’ even in the defensive phase, he creates important advantages for you. By now we are looking for a more modern, timeless football that has no role. We need more things. AND Di Lorenzo is that extra something that becomes evident when it comes to modern football: Di Lorenzo is modern football“.
“Unimaginable love, Naples and Naples forever with me”
In closing, Spalletti gave one last dedication to Naples and the Neapolitans: “My thoughts go to the city and to the public. There is no beauty, however great it may be, that can give you back what they gave me. They really made me feel like it’s impossible to make a person feel or how a person can deserve. I don’t know what they did to Maradona, it will be a thousand times more, but I imagine what love he received considering how much love I received. The last thought goes to them that they will always remain in my heart, I will always have this audience and this support with me. They have always been to defend Naples and Napoli. It’s an amazing city, creatively incredible, you can always find yourself in front of unimaginable circumstances. In Naples I did two years of life university because I’ve known new situations, so the thought is still warm for what the boys and I have received. We often talked about it in the locker room, the Neapolitans have towed us along this path“. And finally an exhortation, returning to what has already been said previously: “I repeat again that we want to hear important things from which children can learn something. We no longer want to hear that football is easy. And this year I will also say something on television”.
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Not only Spalletti: the other post-scudetto farewells
Spalletti is only the latest to say goodbye to the bench after winning the championship. Separations, terminations or exemptions: who came before him in the last 50 years of Serie A? SPALLETTI CONFIRMS THE FAREWELL TO NAPLES
LUCIANO SPALLETTI
“I need to stay still for a year, I’m a little tired and I want to be with my daughter Matilde”. This was confirmed by the coach of Napoli’s third Scudetto, a separation that becomes definitive a few hours after the words of president De Laurentiis: “He came to me and said to me, ‘basically I did my best, it ended a cycle of my life, I still have a contract with her but I would prefer to have a gap year.’ What are you doing, do you object?’ Spalletti had arrived at Naples in 2021 just after a two-year sabbatical. His masterpiece is the one in the following championship, dominated with a clean run and extraordinary numbers. Azzurri again champions of Italy after 33 years, but Luciano will not be the coach next season
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It wasn’t his first farewell after a Scudetto, he who had already come close to parting with Inter at the end of the first season (2019/20) after the final loss in the Europa League. Consensus resolution which will become official on May 26, 2021. “Different visions on the technical project for the future of the company”, CEO Marotta will explain