Newcastle United manager Rafael Benitez defends Napoli’s Pepe Reina – “he’s a great goalkeeper”.
The Spaniard has been questioned by some Partenopei fans this season, with rumours that Wojciech Szczesny could arrive in the summer.
However, Maurizio Sarri’s predecessor says there should be no questions about the number 1.
“I think there’s nothing to say about Reina, Pepe is a great player but above all a leader in the dressing room,” Benitez told CalcioNapoli24.
Newcastle United manager Rafael Benitez defends Napoli’s Pepe Reina – “he’s a great goalkeeper”.
The Spaniard has been questioned by some Partenopei fans this season, with rumours that Wojciech Szczesny could arrive in the summer.
However, Maurizio Sarri’s predecessor says there should be no questions about the number 1.
“I think there’s nothing to say about Reina, Pepe is a great player but above all a leader in the dressing room,” Benitez told CalcioNapoli24.
“We missed him in the year he went to Bayern Munich, now he can make a difference both on and off the pitch.
“Would I take him to Newcastle if he left? I respect Napoli, as that’s where he is, and our club which has a lot of goalkeepers who are doing well.
“We need to be calm, we’ll talk to the club and decide on our targets. I have a great personal relationship with Reina, he’s a great goalkeeper, but he’s at Napoli and I’m sure he’s happy there.”
Benitez was also asked about his record in Naples, which brought the Coppa Italia but also saw his side finish fifth in his final season.
“I think when we got there we changed the mindset a bit, bringing players with a different mindset and different names. “We tried to improve the structure of the club at the footballing level and I think we did that.
“For me there was about 30 per cent missing. I can’t say what level Napoli have arrived at now, but we’re happy with our work now. We grew an already strong club, now it’s even stronger.
“In the time I was there I did my job and I was very happy, I had no problems and I wanted to better. I wanted to grow and win more, even if some games were not good.
“I had good footballers, professionals who worked well, as did the staff and the people.
“I think we did what we had to do, honestly we were unlucky in some games, with Atalanta we made a mistake which could have changed everything.
“Above all we could have ended things differently with Lazio, but that’s how it is.
“We made some good signings, the kind which gave the squad strength. After us they’ve made some good signings, with a certain style of play.
“I remember when I was there they said ‘Napoli is a team which attacks, which plays beautiful football with wingers who make the difference, they need to be better defensively’.
“The team played nice football, scored, and did what everyone wanted to see in being a winning team which got closer to Juventus.
“I think Sarri is doing a great job, with the way he sees football he’s built an attacking team which is good to watch and exciting.
“He made them a bit better defensively at first, not so much this year but then the team’s mentality is to be attacking.
“I think the fans like to see a lot of goals, while finding the balance is ideal for a Coach, but Napoli are doing well this season.”
President Aurelio De Laurentiis has suggested that Benitez wanted to sign Leandro Damiao rather than Gonzalo Higuain.
Higuain scored 91 goals in 146 games for Napoli, while Damiao has managed seven goals in 29 games for Flamengo.
“The President came to my house in London and said: ‘tell me which strikers you want to sign’,” Benitez explained.
“I wrote five names on a napkin. Clearly one was Higuain, then there were [Robert] Lewandowski, [Luis] Suarez, [Edin] Dzeko and Mario Gomez.
“Those are the five I wrote, De Laurentiis picked up the napkin and knew the names. Clearly Pipita was our choice, Damiao was a possibility if we couldn’t get the players we wanted.
“But the napkin had those five names.”