As usual, Aurelio De Laurentiis didn’t do anything fancy. Disappointed with the checkered debut of Rudi Garcia on the bench of his team, the president of Napoli decided to fire the French coach with whom contact had been broken for several weeks. To replace him, the Neapolitan businessman hesitated a lot. And while Igor Tudor seemed to hold the rope, it was ultimately Walter Mazzarri who took up the torch from the former coach of Lyon and Marseille.
A decision which was surprising given that the 62-year-old transalpine coach no longer had a club following a failed stint at Cagliari. His first visit to Campania was nevertheless a great success between 2009 and 2013. Asked at a press conference this Friday on the eve of his first match against Atalanta, the former Inter Milan coach said he was excited at the edge of this new challenge: “I’m excited. This is the strongest team I have ever coached. I have to be careful how I speak, I’m famous for complaining, but that’s another Mazzarri, now I don’t. I no longer complain, I slept twelve hours a day (laughs, editor’s note). With Spalletti they created a masterpiece, I was delighted to see Napoli, it was great for everyone, I think also for the Italians, it was beautiful football. I was hoping to be able to coach them and thanks to De Laurentiis who called me, I hope to be able to do it at least until the end of the year.»
