Marco Giampaolo has been linked with a move to take over at Napoli in the event that the club parts company with its current coach Rudi Garcia according to reports on Monday afternoon.
Garcia has come under fire for his team’s underwhelming start to the 2023-24 season. Napoli had been the league’s runaway champions less than six months ago, but are already seven points of the Serie A table toppers, Milan, after just eight matches.
Off the back of the Partenopei’s 3-1 home loss to Fiorentina on Sunday night, it had been reported that President Aurelio De Laurentiis was considering Garcia’s long-term future at the helm of the Stadio Maradona.
In the event that Garcia were to be moved on, it has been reported by Goal Italia that Giampaolo is among the frontrunners to replace him.
The 56-year-old most recently took charge of Sampdoria for a second spell in January 2022, before being moved on in October of the same year.
Giampaolo had enjoyed a period of relative stability during his first, three year stint with Samp between June 2016 and 2019. He has, however, not coached a club for longer than nine months since then.
In October 2019, Giampaolo was dismissed as Milan coach after just seven Serie A matches, having registered four defeats during that period.
Giampaolo then took over at Torino in August 2020, but only lasted for 21 league games, picking up just four victories before being dismissed in January 2021.
Other names that have been rumoured as potential replacements for Garcia include Antonio Conte and Igor Tudor.