Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis admits it was ‘painful’ to sack Walter Mazzarri, but fans ‘need something more’ and Francesco Calzona already ‘knows 80% of the squad.’
Napoli hired Calzona on Monday evening, barely 24 hours before a Champions League Round of 16 tie against Barcelona at the Stadio Maradona.
A former assistant to Maurizio Sarri and Luciano Spalletti at Napoli, Calzona has signed a four-month contract with the defending Serie A champions and will remain in charge of the Slovakia national team.
He’s Napoli’s third coach this season after Rudi Garcia and Mazzarri.
“Walter Mazzarri is a friend of the De Laurentiis family and, above all, he’s a friend of Napoli,” De Laurentiis told Sky Sport Italia on Monday night.
“It’s always painful to sack a friend and I have thanked him. He was available to come here when we were struggling, but we must consider that Napoli and Napoli fans always need something more, which we are trying to give them with Calzona.”
Why did he hire him?
“He worked with Sarri and Spalletti and already knows 80% of our players,” ADL replied.
“Let’s welcome Calzona and try to help him with no disputes. Preparing for a tough game in 24 hours will be very difficult.
“He will come here with all his assistants tomorrow morning [Tuesday] and we’ll chat for a long time. Then we’ll go to Castel Volturno where I will introduce him to the team even if he knows many players.”
The defending champions host Barcelona in the first leg of the Champions League Round of 16 on Tuesday so Calzona’s pre-match press conference will also be his first meeting with the media as the new Napoli coach.
“Everyone says Barcelona is not the same team they used to be, but I think they still have big players and they are always Barcelona,” argued ADL.
“We’ll go to the stadium after [the training session] because we need to do this UEFA press conference.
“We’d need some time to focus on serious things of football life and, right now, prepare for the game with as much time as possible.”
De Laurentiis confirmed Napoli legend Hamsik won’t join Calzona’s staff at the Stadio Maradona.
“I spoke to him yesterday. He was intrigued by the idea of returning to work for the team that he loves. He gave me so much satisfaction. He stayed until the end, rejecting Milan and Juventus. He was a legend,” the Partenopei president concluded.
Maybe he shoulda explained why he hired Garcia & Mazarri, who obviously were not the right choices, from the beginning. Sick & tired of hearing your excuses, mister !!!