Gennaro Gattuso and Igor Tudor now have something in common. And unfortunately for the Croatian, it is not that of having trained Naples. No, Tudor actually experienced the same episode as Gattuso, with Olympique Lyonnais. The Italian had given his agreement to John Textor before the latter finally changed his mind to choose Fabio Grosso on the sidelines. Igor Tudor experienced a similar misadventure, with Naples and Aurelio de Laurentiis, its fiery president.
Monday evening, the Italian press closed its newspapers by proudly announcing the upcoming appointment of Igor Tudor to succeed Rudi Garcia, condemned by the new defeat at home against Empoli. 7-month contract with an optional year, it was announced, notably by La Gazzetta dello Sport. But during the day, the echo of a twist is born. De Laurentiis would have changed his mind during the night and asked to meet Walter Mazzarri, former Neapolitan coach (from 2009 to 2013). To reach an agreement with him at the beginning of the afternoon and finally make it official a few hours later.
Tudor did not convince De Laurentiis
So what happened to make De Laurentiis backtrack with Igor Tudor? Several reasons are given by La Gazzetta dello Sport. The first would be that something displeased the Italian businessman in the character of Igor Tudor, after their interview. De Laurentiis likes to have a long conversation with the technician he wants to hire. That’s how Rudi Garcia convinced him, to everyone’s surprise. Second point, the question of the contract. Logically, Igor Tudor demanded a contract of more than 7 months, with the guarantee of starting the next season.
However, De Laurentiis has obviously not abandoned his dream, that of attracting Antonio Conte into his net, and he intends to try his luck again this summer with the man who said no to him last October. Conte seems open to coaching another big name than Juventus Turin, but at the start of the season. Finally, it seems that Mazzarri showed more enthusiasm than Tudor, and also more flexibility regarding the president’s request to put Luciano Spalletti’s 4-3-3 back in place. However, Mazzarri, like Tudor, is a fan of the 3 central defense. It is therefore in two aspects that the difference was made. That of personality, De Laurentiis preferring to play it safe with a coach he already knew, and that of the contract, with Mazzarri accepting the role of interim before probably giving up his place next summer.
