“He made one thing clear”, then the anecdote about his farewell to Napoli

Luciano Spalletti returned to talk about Naples and Napoli: the revelation about Aurelio De Laurentiis and the anecdote about his farewell.

Luciano’s name Spalletti will remain indelible in the history of Naples and Napoli. The current season has made everyone understand better that the true supporter of the scudetto was the coach from Certaldo himself.

Arrived in Naples between general skepticism of a very demanding place that did not see in Luciano, the eternal second, the right man to win, with hard work he is succeeded slowly ad enter the hearts of Neapolitans.

What he managed to do last year, then, earned him the infinite love of a people who were just waiting to win again after decades of difficulty. After winning the scudetto, the bond between Napoli and Spalletti has consolidated also with the granting of Honorary Citizenship by Mayor Manfredi.

Spalletti-Napoli, thrilling words from the coach

Over the months, despite Spalletti finding himself at the helm of the national team, the coach has always had beautiful words for Napoli and Napoli.

The coach from Certaldo gave a long interview to today’s edition of Corriere dello Sport where he unveiled a backstory regarding his farewell to Naples.

Below is what is highlighted:

“I chose and embraced sadness when I left Naples after that thing. It would have been easier and more natural to move forward, work with a group that we had brought to the top, enjoy the happiness of the moment, the one we made the people of Naples feel. I chose sadness. You see”.

Spalletti then continues:
“After all, I have often managed to hit the target and when I hit it I would really like to turn my back on my sofa, let myself fall backwards and stop to look at infinity, savoring the happiness of those I have made happy”

Spalletti then also told an anecdote about his first meeting with De Laurentiis:

Have you ever had a decision made?
“I have always decided for myself. The job means 365 days of hard work. After the first year my collaborators said to me “but what are we left to do? They all sold.” Mertens, Koulibaly, Ghoulam, Ospina, Insigne, Fabian Ruiz had left. So much quality. I wanted to feel like the coach of Napoli and you are only a coach of a team if you do something actually important. When you meet De Laurentiis the first thing he tells you is “we have already arrived second and we must always be in the Champions League”. Clear and direct message. So I left to get that thing over there, it happened, I could have stayed longer, we had taken the performance graph to the highest level.”

Is victory today measured in millions?
“I’m lucky because I always got what I deserved. Then, of course, there are also those who have an ass. Sometimes the result depends not only on the technical skills of a player, but also on the individual episode. In Naples we always took what we had built and deserved.”

Systematic ass doesn’t exist. Comic book stuff, from Disney’s Gaston.
“But there is such a thing as kappa ass. Last Sunday Napoli deserved to win and they didn’t win. These are nuances that make you rethink your behavior.”

Can you explain?
“I don’t know how to train cynicism. For me, coaching means loving the player, knowing how to defend him, adding something to him. There is the shy footballer who is unable to fully express his potential and so I intervene with work. At Napoli I had a couple of them. But now he puts down the pen”.

Spalletti concludes:
“With exercise I try to bring the shy person into the ideal condition to raise the level of performance. I can’t do anything on the surface. The first year in Naples I lived in a hotel, magnificent, they brought breakfast to my room. Then I placed the cot in the office. In order not to waste a single second, even the smallest detail, I saved myself the half-hour drive from Naples to Castel Volturno”.