Luciano SpallettiItaly coach and former coach of Naples who won the Scudetto last year, speaking to Corriere dello Sport, he retraced his period on the Neapolitan bench, revealing some background information on his relationship with De Laurentiis, how the title was achieved and his farewell.
“WHAT ARE WE LEFT TO DO” - “I have always decided for myself. The profession means 365 days of hard work. After the first year my collaborators said to me “but what are we left to do? They have all sold”. Mertens, Koulibaly, Ghoulam, Ospina, Insigne had left , Fabian Ruiz. So much quality. I wanted to feel like the coach of Napoli and you are only the coach of a team if you do something actually important always 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 brought the performance graph to the highest level.”
DE LAURENTIIS – “I have two ears and one mouth. I know how to listen and speak at the right moment. De Laurentiis has a great communicative ability, a fluent language. And then it always depends on which De Laurentiis you find yourself in front of, there are at least four or five. With “Artificial intelligence could try to invent others.”
GOODBYE TO NAPLES – “The (Chinese) wise man says “the man who does not know sadness never has deep thoughts”. And I chose and embraced sadness by leaving Naples after that thing. It would have been easier and more natural to move forward, to work with a group that we had brought to the top, enjoying the happiness of the moment, that which I made the people of Naples feel. I chose sadness.”
