Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis admits Luis Enrique prefers a Premier League club and suggests he won’t hire Antonio Conte.
The Partenopei are on the lookout for Luciano Spalletti’s successor given that the Certaldo-born coach will leave at the end of the season after winning Napoli’s first Serie A title in 33 years.
Luis Enrique has been mentioned as the leading candidate for the job, but the Spanish tactician prefers a move to England.
“He is a great coach, he did really well at Barcelona but I think he prefers the Premier League,” ADL told Rai, as quoted by Gazzetta.
“We must remember that we are dealing with leagues that are more appealing than ours’, like the English one. There are better offers there. I would tell him that he’d find better food here and there is no gulf over there,” continued De Laurentiis.
“We are assessing several coaches using a 4-3-3 system with our extraordinary players who we want to keep.”
This means Conte is an unlikely candidate for the job, given that the ex-Juventus, Inter and Tottenham coach often uses a three-man defence. The same is true of Atalanta boss Gian Piero Gasperini, while Thiago Motta (Bologna) and Vincenzo Italiano (Fiorentina) remain credible candidates for the Stadio Maradona job.
“I’ve evaluated about ten coaches who can use this system [4-3-3] and I’ll pick the best one to continue the winning cycle. I want to do more but I need support from all Napeolitans,” added ADL.
“Changes should not be scary as everything must be used to improve. We’ll go ahead being the only team that has been playing in Europe for 14 years and this says it all about decisions on coaches.
“I have an advantage, I can’t play football, but I know how to be an entrepreneur. I must be rational and understand what’s going on. I haven’t made many errors for now and hope to continue.”
Spalletti will lead Napoli in his last game as a coach on Sunday in a Serie A clash against Sampdoria at the Stadio Maradona, where Napoli will lift the Scudetto trophy.
Playing 14 year consecutively in Europe and only having a quarter final to show of it, isn’t an achievement at all ADL.
It is good to hear ADL’s tones tuning down. At least he now knows it’s not easy and should get closer down to Earth.