Walter Mazzarri insists he is not bothered by the argument between Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Victor Osimhen’s agents: ‘Only Napoli count.’
Kvara’s agent had said earlier this week that Osimhen would move to Saudi Arabia in the summer, prompting reactions from the Nigerian forward and his representative.
The Georgian ace is available for Saturday’s Derby della Campania against Salernitana, while Osimhen is on AFCON international duty with his national team.
Speaking at a pre-match press conference on Friday, Mazzarri was asked his thoughts on the whole situation involving his most important players.
“I tend to talk to the players and make them train well,” the Italian coach replied, as quoted by TuttoNapoli.
“Agents are involved, too, but players must be able to only think about the jersey and help their teammates; only Napoli count. I will say the same things to Kvara and the other one [Osimhen] when he returns. When you enter that gate, only the jersey counts, I don’t care about the rest.”
Napoli sit ninth in the Serie A table and are 20 points below table leaders Inter. They suffered a 3-0 loss against Torino in the previous round, so they spent the entire week in a training retreat.
“I am happy to have made this week of work. The lads trained well, we stayed together and we did things we had no time to do with less time available,” said Mazzarri.
“I am a coach who enjoys working on the pitch and preparing for games during training sessions, but we had little time to work when I arrived.
“Staying at a hotel, we could show more tactical videos and spend longer time on the pitch. If we have worked well, we’ll see a different Napoli tomorrow.”
Mazzarri said he had seen improvements against Monza and took responsibility for the poor performance and heavy defeat against Torino.
“We saw a team that did not play football, who relied on long passes, but we were also unlucky because we had had the first chance to score,” he admitted.
“Perhaps, we overloaded the players with the fitness coach. I didn’t like the game, but I am confident we can play football as we like.
“I’ll say a storage thing. I enjoyed the training retreat so much because I could see and spend time with the players.”
When asked if he still feels the trust of President Aurelio De Laurentiis, Mazzarri replied: “I’ve never been interested in this. I will motivate the team to win games as long as I am here. I’ll give my all for this. I feel bad for days when we don’t win. The rest is not a problem.”
Dinosaur of Serie A. Has no clue