Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis reveals he called current Juventus Coach Max Allegri “month after month”.
The Parteneopei face Real Madrid in the second leg of their Champions League Last 16 tie tomorrow, and the patron spoke to Spanish outlet El Pais ahead of the match.
“We signed [Rafa] Benitez but actually at that time I would have liked to bring Massimiliano Allegri,” De Laurentiis revealed.
Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis reveals he called current Juventus Coach Max Allegri “month after month”.
The Parteneopei face Real Madrid in the second leg of their Champions League Last 16 tie tomorrow, and the patron spoke to Spanish outlet El Pais ahead of the match.
“We signed [Rafa] Benitez but actually at that time I would have liked to bring Massimiliano Allegri,” De Laurentiis revealed.
“I was in love when he was at Milan, and one day I asked him to come. I called him month after month but he told me I had to wait.
“So at a certain point we thought of Benitez, we went to meet him in London and we loved him. He seemed like a Neapolitan, he was friendly, he invited us to eat…
“So we signed the contract. Then, when I got back to Rome, Allegri calls me and says ‘President, I can do it…’
“Benitez? He’s a great Coach. He’s very organised in football, but he confuses English football with Spanish and Italian football. That’s his weakness.
“He is completely in love with a city where the Beatles were born.
“Apart from that, I’ve no idea why he likes it so much. I lived in Madrid for a long time, Barcelona too… but Liverpool? I don’t get it.
“His departure? He had an option for another year, he told me his wife and daughters were too far away from him in Liverpool.
“I said: ‘Rafa, I’ve made 300 films, I have three children, three grandchildren… my wife and I have never said anything, why do you have to take a month to go away? This isn’t my problem, it’s yours’.
“So I offered him somewhere in Rome with great schools, American, with horses for one of his daughters who loved to ride horses. The other asked for a violin.
“I told him he could go to Naples whenever he wanted, because it’s an hour away by train. He said he didn’t want to leave England.
“I said: ‘Dear Rafa, please exercise the option and stay’. He felt pressurised.
“We lost a game in Bilbao which knocked us out of the Champions League. I won’t say he did it artfully… but perhaps his mind was elsewhere or he wanted another team. There are things people don’t know.
“We couldn’t hold him for a third year. I was happy for him, but whoever signs for Real Madrid is in danger.
“There are players, spoiled stars, who are against the Coach and that can affect their performance.”