Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis tried to convince Antonio Conte to become the new head coach, wanting to replace Rudi Garcia, but he was clear in his refusal.
The Partenopei have started the new season slowly following last term’s Scudetto success, sitting fifth in the Serie A table after the opening eight games. In the Champions League, the team secured a win over Braga but fell in a close loss to Real Madrid.
Garcia has been under increasing pressure and recent reports detailed how De Laurentiis wanted to replace the Frenchman with Conte, who has been out of work since leaving Tottenham back in March.
As reported by La Gazzetta dello Sport, Conte’s decision to reject Napoli’s approach wasn’t due to economic or technical factors. The coach turned down the opportunity because he is not interested in joining mid-season, instead preferring to have a pre-season training camp to prepare.
De Laurentiis has decided to move forward with Garcia for the time being, but it’s clear that the next few games will be vitally important.
Doesn’t Conte huff & puff when he doesn’t get the players he asks for? Because he would definitely not get them under ADL, and seeing how the Spaletti row went, why would any sane coach want to work with him?