Walter Mazzarri celebrates Edinson Cavani’s contract renewal, but warns “there is competition for every place” in the Napoli side ahead of tomorrow’s clash with Fiorentina.
Walter Mazzarri celebrates Edinson Cavani’s contract renewal, but warns “there is competition for every place” in the Napoli side ahead of tomorrow’s clash with Fiorentina.
Cavani put pen to paper on an extension that will hold him at the San Paolo until 2017 with a €60m buy-out clause.
“Edi can still improve a great deal here. Anyone who stays at Napoli has to do so willingly, with motivation and pride,” said the Coach in today’s Press conference.
“Fiorentina also did well to hold on to their world class player Stevan Jovetic and last week managed to beat a strong side like Udinese” data-scaytid=”11″>Udinese, so they deserve the utmost respect.
“If you let the Viola play, then with their technique and quality any opponent can be troubled. They had a great transfer strategy in place.”
Napoli also reinforced with the likes of Valon Behrami, Giandomenico Mesto, Lorenzo Insigne, Alessandro Gamberini, Bruno Uvini and Omar El Kaddouri.
“Unlike in the past, we now have two players for every role and there is competition for every place. Even though we won 3-0 at Palermo last week, I could still change the players who step on to the field.
“Compliments embarrass me, though it was difficult to do any more with the Financial Fair Play rules and club spending limits. We’ve done well in recent years and always adequately replaced anyone who has left.
“What must be clear is that the only players who stay at Napoli are the ones happy to be here.”
Goran Pandev and Andrea Dossena continue their two-match bans after the Italian Super Cup, but Juan Camilo Zuniga returns from suspension.
“Marek Hamsik is a key figure for Napoli, as he allows us to change systems. He’s so intelligent that his movement can put the opposition in crisis and let us adopt three different tactical shapes.
“He can do great things when sharp, but in the past we used him up and he lost that sharpness due to exhaustion. That was because I didn’t trust who was meant to substitute him, but this year things can be different.”