Fabio Cannavaro is surprised at how President Aurelio De Laurentiis wiped a clean slate at Napoli, and defends Milan's Alessio Romagnoli: 'Give him time'.
The World Cup-winning defender started his career with the Partenopei and was able to comment on the team ahead of the new Serie A season.
“De Laurentiis' new turn surprised me a little. We're at a new beginning after [Coach Walter] Mazzarri's work was wiped from the table," he said, in a long interview with Il Corriere dello Sport.
Fabio Cannavaro is surprised at how President Aurelio De Laurentiis wiped a clean slate at Napoli, and defends Milan's Alessio Romagnoli: 'Give him time'.
The World Cup-winning defender started his career with the Partenopei and was able to comment on the team ahead of the new Serie A season.
“De Laurentiis' new turn surprised me a little. We're at a new beginning after [Coach Walter] Mazzarri's work was wiped from the table," he said, in a long interview with Il Corriere dello Sport.
“Now it's Rafa [Benitez's] turn to be completely replaced.
“Maybe the mistake was made when they hired him, even though he clearly had a lot of qualities that turned him into an internationally successful Coach.
“Sarri has a long, structured story, precise ideas, great results in relation to the teams he Coached, which he obtained through some beautiful and spectacular football.
“So he has everything needed to do well. Obviously he'll have to handle the blessing-slash-curse of [striker Diego Armando] Maradona.
“Napoli, for the good and for the bad, want to win after Diego.
“Certainly something important will be represented by his relationship with the club when the crisis arrives, because there's always a crisis at some point in the championship.”
The former defender then discussed 20-year-old Romagnoli, who is considered by some to be among the brightest promises in Italian defensive football.
“Cannavaro is a thing of the past. The more time passes the more I realise that I really was an atypical case, since my opponents were often bigger and taller than me.
“But I can say one thing, let's give a talent like Romagnoli time to grow, and let's not pressure him because of his value, which was decided by others,” he said, in reference to the player's €25m price-tag.
“At least not at his first bad game. He has important qualities, as does [Daniele] Rugani.”