After just over four months, Rudi Garcia’s Napoli has now come to an end, something that only seemed like a matter of time following his arrival, Apollo Heyes notes.
The 59-year-old Frenchman was a surprise choice for the Partenopei after Luciano Spalletti’s decision to step away from the job at the end of last season.
Many coaches were linked with the job during the search in June, with options including Luis Enrique, Christophe Galtier, Vincenzo Italiano and Igor Tudor, all of whom seemed far better equipped to take over the league champions than Garcia.
Prior to his arrival at Napoli, the French coach had previously spent nine months in charge of Al-Nassr, being dismissed in April of this year after failing to find common ground with their star man Cristiano Ronaldo.
Once upon a time, Garcia was an exciting up-and-comer after winning the double with Lille in the 2010-11 season. He left the Ligue 1 outfit two years later and had a two-and-a-half-year spell with Roma, where he failed to replicate his impressive work in France.
His career had been petering out over the last few years and his poor run at Al-Nassr should’ve been a sign that both his ideas are outdated and that he’ll never be able to recapture that successful year with Lille.
Despite all of this, De Laurentiis – as he always does – decided to go his own way and make the surprise choice, believing the Frenchman could be the right replacement for Spalletti, who had achieved a historic feat in the Campania capital.
Obviously, Garcia wasn’t a good choice. This comes as no surprise, least of all to Napoli fans, who couldn’t believe the appointment. His 16 matches in charge saw eight wins, four draws and four losses, killing the electricity generated in their title-winning season.
After just over four months, Napoli have finally made the decision we were all waiting for, sacking Garcia. It’s hard to imagine a replacement doing any worse, and top choice Igor Tudor could be the perfect man to turn things around at the club, bringing an end to an obvious mistake.
Words: @ApolloHeyes
No surprise – as the article says. The only surprise being his appointment.
Finally. But unfortunately ADL has ruined their title defence and potentially the next 2 seasons. I can’t wait for the new stories about him storming into the locker room and addressing Mazzarri and the players (hopefully this doesn’t happen 🤞🏿)
Imagine letting a Hollywood millionaire choose your Club’s new Manager .
Question is , how many other football decisions are being made by Franchise club business bosses and foreign corporate money men ?