Rudi Garcia feels it is ‘destiny’ he replaces Luciano Spalletti at Napoli after their tag-team at Roma, hoping to bring a balance of ‘confidence, humility and ambition’ to the Champions of Italy.
The search for the heir to Scudetto-winner Spalletti took in numerous names, including Luis Enrique, Julian Nagelsmann, Christophe Galtier and Vincenzo Italiano.
However, President Aurelio De Laurentiis announced Garcia with relatively little warning or fanfare on June 15, making his return to Serie A seven years after the dismissal from Roma in January 2016, when ironically he was replaced by Spalletti.
“This is destiny winking at us. I was replaced by Spalletti at Roma and here I come after his great season at Napoli,” said Garcia.
“What the President and I share is ambition. I want to thank the fans for their welcome and congratulate the President and his squad, which will be mine soon, for all they did in this season.
“When I arrived in the city and saw all these banners and flags, I realised the entire city is very proud of its team and I hope that will continue in the future.”
The presentation press conference was held at the Capodimonte royal hunting lodge with De Laurentiis alongside Garcia.
“When I start a competition, I always play to win it. The President set a very high bar, as there are clubs who waited 15 years and spent a lot of money to win the Champions League, including one with the same coach for 15 years,” he added, referring to Pep Guardiola and Manchester City.
“For the club to win 33 years after Maradona is a wonderful achievement, but I feel Napoli need to be in the Champions League every season and have an important role in Italy.”
Garcia was asked what worries him the most about taking over from Spalletti’s Scudetto winners.
“I fear nothing except poor health. This victory must give the players a great deal of confidence, but when the new season begins, it all starts from scratch, because it is very difficult to say we can achieve anything without sweat, sacrifice and hard work. So on the other hand, the players must forget what they did, keeping confidence, humility and ambition all in the balance.
“What I liked was seeing a team, not just individual qualities, who defended as a unit. It’s a big squad, so there are players to come off the bench and change games.
“The President is ambitious, so he can give me a quality team and keep entertaining the fans. My teams tend to attack, try to control the initiative and score more than the opposition.
“I have gained more experience since I left Italy and it is wonderful to be back here. I might go in disguise with a moustache and hat to try and get to know the city!”
De Laurentiis said repeatedly he wanted Garcia because he’d continue the 4-3-3 used by Spalletti, but the French coach is not so sure.
“Any coach who sits on the Napoli bench after winning the Scudetto knows there’s a lot of pressure, because to do better, you need to repeat the win and the players know they must give more too. I am not coming here to revolutionise everything. We’ll see if the squad looks similar to the current season, and if it does, I don’t need to change much.
“We talk about the 4-3-3, I used other systems too in my career, because a coach has to adapt to his squad and find the right system to suit his players. It feels like the 4-3-3 fits the current squad like a glove, but there are analysts now who study you so carefully, a team must be able to change tactics at any moment to surprise the opponent.
“It is possible after winning that players can get a little sleepy, so I am there to ring the alarm bell and wake them up. We will be competitive. All I wanted was to be sure the President still wanted to win trophies and be competitive.
“No player is irreplaceable, I trust the directorial staff who after all managed to win the title with players who many had never heard of.”
Garcia is reunited with Andre Frank Zambo Anguissa, who he had already worked with at Olympique Marseille.
“I gave him his debut, he was my little guy, even if he’s a man mountain. He has made this huge step forward in quality, the last game we had together was the Europa League Final, he went to England and Spain, proving this season his worth on and off the field. Frank knows I will be even more demanding with him.”