Salernitana coach Paulo Sousa hit back at reporters he accused of ‘fomenting hatred’ towards him during the Napoli job links, insisting he was ‘approached by three Serie A clubs’ this summer.
The Portuguese tactician took over at the Stadio Arechi in mid-February and steered them towards safety, but was then cited by the media as one of the hot favourites to replace Luciano Spalletti at rivals Napoli.
That job instead went to Rudi Garcia and Sousa took it out on the reporters at today’s press conference to open pre-season training.
“First of all, I will say that some journalists fomented hatred towards me, and considering the rapport we had, I expected different behaviour,” said the coach.
“When I signed for Salernitana, I accepted all the conditions, then it was up to the owners to decide whether to deposit the new two-year contract or interrupt the rapport. The club activated it on June 10 and I never had doubts on what we could achieve together.
“My personal window allowed me to talk to other clubs who were interested and that is what happened. I spoke to three Serie A sides, two French clubs and my agent had contact with Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar, but I chose to remain in Salerno because I believe in the Salernitana project.
“I chose to remain here because what I experienced in those months with the players, the staff, the President and the city was wonderful and difficult to find elsewhere. Looking at my past, I rarely found all these things together that allowed me to work at my best.”
Sousa’s career has certainly had some rough spots in recent years since leaving Fiorentina in the summer of 2017.
He had brief spells at Tianjin Quanjian, Girondins de Bordeaux, Flamengo and in charge of the Poland international team for just 15 games.
His record on the Salernitana bench since replacing Davide Nicola in February is of four wins, nine draws and three defeats.