Between protests and a sigh of liberation: the Napoli championship it ended in the worst possible way with the Azzurri led on the bench by Calzona who failed to beat Lecce in the last match of the championship and were unable to keep alive their last hopes of winning a place in the next Conference League.
Naples: a year to forget
The Napoli ends its nightmare season: in 365 days the Azzurri went from the dream of the scudetto to the bitterness of a complicated championship at the beginning and then with almost tragic contours in its continuation. The last race, the home match with Lecce, confirms how much was “wrong” in the championship of the Neapolitan team. They took turns on the bench Rudi Garcia, Mazzarri and then Calzona but the situation progressively worsened with a tenth place finish which says a lot about the disappointment experienced by the entire Neapolitan environment.
Closer Count, the intercession of Manna
The first choice to make, but above all the mistake not to be repeated compared to last summer, is that of the coach. In recent weeks various names have been sought for the Italian bench, a few days ago the number 1 candidate seemed to be Gian Piero Gasperini which however was confirmed just a few hours ago his decision to stay at Atalanta. Some market experts have long maintained that president De Laurentiis has always focused on Antonio Conte, considered the only one capable of pulling the team out of the rubble of this season.
In the last few hours the contacts seem to have become more and more insistent and it would also contribute with a key role to the success of the negotiation. Giovanni Manna, new sporting director of Napoli, after a long experience at Juventus. His intercession would have been fundamental in reaching an agreement that should tie the Salento coach to Napoli until 2027 with a contract worth around 8 million per season.
Banners, controversies and hope
The Azzurri fans have experienced this season with great difficulty and they demonstrated it forcefully during the match against Lecce. There protest against the team was very tough with Curva B who displayed banners with all the negative results of this championship, while on the other side of the stadium the banners were even more negative. Captain Di Lorenzo’s probable farewell was accompanied by a mix of whistles and applause.
But precisely on the day of maximum discouragement, with some sighs of liberation for a terrible season that is now over, a glimmer of hope also arrives and brings precisely the name of Antonio Conte. The Napoli fans are convinced that the Salento coach is the right man to be able to shake things up: “Given the total disarray, I believe that the only solution is to give full powers to a tough guy capable of rebuilding without looking anyone in the face”.
