Aurelio De Laurentiis regrets not sacking Rudi Garcia on the day of his unveiling, confirms Eljif Elmas has already ‘been sold’ and hints Piotr Zielinski could move up north as ‘being Polish’ he may prefer ‘fog to sun and sea.’
ADL has released a lengthy interview with Il Corriere dello Sport, discussing several matters from the Super League, to Serie A and Napoli‘s future.
Napoli have recently appointed Walter Mazzarri to replace Rudi Garcia, who only remained in charge for three months. However, the Frenchman was not ADL’s first option.
“Thiago Motta was the first one I called. It wasn’t so wrong, eh? However, he didn’t feel ready,” said the Napoli President.
“Do you know what the problem was? He needed to replace somebody who had won the title that way. He thought: ‘What will happen if it doesn’t go well?’ Then I met Luis Enrique. His parents came to Naples, and he kept me on hold for three days. He asked for so much money. Then it was Nagelsmann’s turn. I spoke to five or six candidates but said 40 to shuffle the cards. I picked Garcia who had finished second twice in Serie A, managing dressing rooms full of champions.”
When did he realise Garcia was not the right man for the job?
“On the day of his unveiling at Capodimonte,” ADL replied.
“He said he hadn’t seen Napoli play and I should have understood. The thing is that he repeated it other times. He should have played like Spalletti. On the contrary, he wanted me to part company with a perfect fitness coach. They had warned me about the new one and I had to stay at Castel Volturno from morning until night.”
Napoli are currently out of the top four. Retaining the Serie A title already seems impossible as the Partenopei are 14 points below leaders Inter and lost against the Nerazzurri at the Stadio Maradona 3-0 earlier in December. What will ADL do in January to fix Napoli’s problems?
“At least three signings,” he claimed.
“I must reinforce the defence with a centre-back and a right-back to have a backup for Di Lorenzo. Then I must sign a midfielder, maybe two.”
Elmas?
“He’s already been sold. He wants to play all the time; he hasn’t understood that you can be a starter even if you don’t play 90 minutes.”
The North Macedonia international is expected to join RB Leipzig for circa €25m in January. On the contrary, Zielinski is in talks over a new Napoli deal, but Juventus and Inter are also interested in the 29-year-old.
“He said he wanted to stay in Napoli forever, but being Polish, he may be more accustomed to fog than the sun and sea,” said ADL, suggesting Zielinski may move up north at the end of the season.
Lastly, the Napoli President confirmed Victor Osimhen will soon sign a contract extension.
“I said it and I repeat, we are getting close to the finish line,” he concluded.