Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis feels the 2020-21 season should start on October 4, can't confirm if Lille forward Victor Osimhen will be a part of the pre-season retreat but says Gennaro Gattuso will 'obviously' stay in charge.
The Partenopei patron is not completely satisfied with starting the next season as early as September 12, pointing out that there’s no time to rest the players.
Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis feels the 2020-21 season should start on October 4, can't confirm if Lille forward Victor Osimhen will be a part of the pre-season retreat but says Gennaro Gattuso will 'obviously' stay in charge.
The Partenopei patron is not completely satisfied with starting the next season as early as September 12, pointing out that there’s no time to rest the players.
“The somewhat crazy approach of the Lega was to start again on September 12,” De Laurentiis said at a press conference. “But if need to rest the players, prepare for the season and in the meantime there’s also the break for the national teams, how do you train?
“It’s true that everyone doesn’t has to play in Europe this August. In my opinion, Serie A should start again towards the end of September, I would even say October 4.”
The start of the pre-season retreat will hinge on the outcome of their Champions League match against Barcelona on August 8, depending on their journey in the competition.
“If we were to get eliminated, after giving 12 days of rest to the players, we will go to Castel di Sangro on August 20.
“If we advance, we must postpone the retreat, always taking into account the 12 days of rest for the players after the finished championship.
The agreement between Napoli and Castel di Sangro, which was also explained by the President of the region Marco Marsilio, will be ‘six years renewable’.
“There will be a million Neapolitans who will follow us to this retreat, we are an hour and a half from Naples and an hour and a half from Rome.
“I only knew Castel di Sangro from its name, I went on a single trip and fell in love with the place. We will start with a period in Dimaro, but then we will move to Castel di Sangro, also because there’s a stadium there with seven thousand seats, triple changing rooms and offices.
“At the San Paolo we have all this… If I had to invite Manchester City og Paris Saint-Germain, there’s a real stadium there.”
The ongoing transfer saga of Lille forward Viktor Osimhen has not been settled and the patron was coy on confirming if he would be present during the pre-season camp.
“Who knows, that’s the beauty of football. He comes from another continent and still has no new agent, but he will see that we go to a nice place like Castel di Sangro.”
Regarding coach Gennaro Gattuso’s future at the Partenopei, there’s no doubt that he will stay.
“That’s obvious, do I need to repeat it?"