Rudi Garcia in Naples, it’s already over. Some Neapolitan fans will even say that the adventure is finally over. Indeed, the setback against Empoli (0-1) at home, during the 12th day of Serie A, was the last straw. Losing to the 19th in the Italian championship sounded the death knell for Rudi Garcia on the Napoli bench. “Napoli have decided to revoke the appointment of Rudi Garcia as head coach of the first team. We would like to thank him and his team for the collaboration they have shown so far., is written in the official press release published this Tuesday afternoon on the Italian club’s website, thus announcing the definitive departure of the French coach. After the meeting on Sunday, President Aurelio De Laurentiis had already organized a meeting with leaders Mauro Meluso, Maurizio Micheli and Antonio Sinicropi in order to decide who will be the new coach of Napoli, at a time when the Italian press had announced the dismissal at come from Rudi Garcia. In the end, it was Walter Mazzarri who was the lucky one.
Before taking stock of this resounding cataclysm, let’s rewind the tape a little to remember the arrival of Rudi Garcia last June. After the departure of Luciano Spalletti, the Neapolitan management, led by its legendary and folkloric president Aurelio De Laurentiis, had to start looking for a new conductor to take over the helm of the Partneopei, freshly crowned with a Scudetto historic after 33 long years of waiting. But the more the summer months passed, the more the first doubts began to emerge in Naples because the 74-year-old Italian businessman continued interviews at the restaurant without ever making his new coach official, at a time when Kim Min’s replacement jae, who left for Bayern, in central defense was also waiting and sports director Cristiano Giuntoli left the ship for the offices of Juventus. Finally, despite the rumors involving Julian Nagelsmann, Vincenzo Italiano, Luis Enrique, Christophe Galtier, Thiago Motta or even Raffaele Palladino and Sérgio Conceição, it was Rudi Garcia who was chosen to take over from Luciano Spalletti, beating the competition from About ten names mentioned during the summer.
The disappearance of Neapolitan domination
Once upon a time in Italy, at the foot of Vesuvius, a formidable invincible team created by the hands of Luciano Spalletti was miserably broken by contact with a single man: Rudi Garcia. The home defeat against Empoli on Sunday was the fourth of the season, the third in the league after previous losses against Fiorentina and Lazio. Aurelio De Laurentiis’ biggest concern is that all these failures happened directly on Diego Armando Maradona’s pitch, where last year under Spalletti’s leadership only the Lazio and AC Milan teams was able to leave with the three points. The comparison, which continues with his predecessor, is even more alarming for Rudi Garcia: as of November 12, Naples has overall lost the same number of matches in all competitions as during the entirety of the last league campaign with Spalletti. The Italian champions have lost three of their last five home games, the same number of defeats in the previous 25 meetings.
Even looking at the numbers in the game, Rudi Garcia’s Napoli seems light years away from Luciano Spalletti’s, even though the executives are essentially the same (apart from the departure of Kim Min-jae). At the same stage of the season, the Partenopei had conceded, in the 22/23 financial year, a total of 12 goals with the current coach of the Nazionale in charge compared to 13 goals with Rudi Garcia this season, one more, symbol of a much less solid and constant rearguard. Same story on the offensive lines: 37 goals scored by Naples as of November 12, 2022 compared to only 24 today. All these data also reflect the difference in points in the ranking between the two years: the 22/23 season was already dominated by Spalletti’s Napoli with 41 points without any defeat, unlike the current season under Rudi Garcia, in which the Neapolitans are stuck at 21. A major difference of twenty units less.
Internal disputes with executives
Beyond the purely sporting aspect and the balance sheet, the management of the locker room and the relationships that Rudi Garcia maintained with his players have been singled out more than once in just five months on the Naples bench. Several episodes have disrupted the already complicated start to the Partenopei season, due to internal friction between Rudi Garcia and some of his best players like Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. During the frustrating draw against Genoa (2-2), the former Dinamo Batumi player was replaced in the 89th minute while a victory was still within reach of the Campania club. In his dismay, the Georgian made a hand gesture which seemed to question and call into question the choice of the former OL and OM technician in particular. But this is not the only storm with Rudi Garcia.
A few days later, while Napoli was away to Bologna as part of the 5th day of Serie A, Victor Osimhen also expressed his frustration when leaving the pitch. Less than 15 minutes after missing a penalty, the city’s idol was replaced by Rudi Garcia. A choice which did not please the Nigerian striker, who was very furious when he sat down on his team’s bench. Bis repeated with Matteo Politano in the defeat against Fiorentina. Author of a great individual performance, the Italian international was replaced in the 56th minute of the match and expressed his anger after this choice by Rudi Garcia. He came out to the other side of the field, didn’t shake his teammate Jens Cajuste’s hand and then gestured to his coach.
A dotted future for Rudi Garcia
And now ? This is the annoying question. After leaving Olympique Lyonnais and Olympique de Marseille by alienating the majority of the supporters of the two clubs, Rudi Garcia left his luggage in Italy for his return to Europe following his freelance in Saudi Arabia on the bench. Al-Nassr. He thus returned to the Italian championship which he knows perfectly since he had the heyday of AS Rome for three seasons between 2013 and 2016. Under his leadership, the Giallorossi had twice finished in 2nd position in Serie A even playing in the round of 16 of the Europa League and then the Champions League. Before this total disaster with Napoli, Rudi Garcia had a perfect reputation in Italy, a real status and strong respect from his fellow coaches, the transalpine newspapers and certain notable players. But by spoiling the very good work done by Luciano Spalletti among the Neapolitan title holders, the native of Nemours may have definitively said goodbye to a possible continuation of his career in Italy. A disillusionment which will leave marks in the minds of Italians, especially after the magnificent romantic epic of Napoli last season, returning to the roof of Italy after 33 years of waiting and three years after the death of Maradona: the fall is brutal in Naples.
Considered by many Neapolitan fans as one of the worst recent Napoli coaches with Roberto Donadoni (2009), given the great team he received when he signed, Rudi Garcia sees a thick fog over his future. It’s difficult to know what the French coach, who will soon be 60, will do in the coming months or years. A return to Saudi Arabia could perhaps be considered, but most of the clubs in the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) already have a coach on their bench: Jorge Jesus at Al-Hilal, Matthias Jaissle to Al-Ahli and Luis Castro to Al-Nassr, to which we must add Steven Gerrard to Al-Ettifaq. Only the Al-Ittihad club, where the French N’Golo Kanté and Karim Benzema play, is looking for a new tactician after the ousting of Nuno Espirito Santo. But according to the foreign press, the Argentinian Marcelo Gallardo is the big favorite. Another possibility for Rudi Garcia: stay in the Middle East and imitate Christophe Galtier by going to find a bench in Qatar.
