Spalletti is far away, Napoli are already thinking about the future

One day suddenly it seems to have gone back a year, when a month after the end of the last championship Aurelio De Laurentiis seemed on the verge of forcing the separation from Luciano Spalletti. He had shown him the door, in a not too veiled way. “If and when he wants to leave, we’ll shake hands and nothing will happen.” On the other hand, the first season ended with ups and downs. The eliminations from the cups were too clear, as was the structural collapse of the workforce which in the final part had ended up ousting Napoli from the race for the title. Overall, the coach’s work was considered appreciable, a possible exemption would have been badly absorbed in the policy of reducing the wage bill. Now the prerogatives are profoundly different, after the victory of the third championship, yet frictions and frictions have reappeared, perhaps irreparably.

Last meeting

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However, the conditional is still a must, in the analysis of a relationship that has worn out in the most unthinkable moment. In all likelihood there will be another meeting, the definitive one, with Spalletti. In a more reserved place, perhaps in the quiet that the walls of Castel Volturno can ensure. The coach was burned by the treatment he received, in relation to such an important milestone. He would have expected a summons to discuss a new contract, with an acknowledgment both in terms of duration and salary, removing the 8 million penalty in case of resignation. An amount even higher than the earnings of the last two seasons, strongly binding. Instead, without even talking about it, De Laurentiis communicated to him via e-mail that he had exercised the unilateral renewal option, in the days before the away match in Udine. A move that took the coach by surprise, because he felt his confidence fail, without explaining it. Thinking about the future with only one guaranteed year he considered it a paradox, the disappointment of remaining only sixth for engagement among his colleagues in Serie A further embittered him. Last week’s dinner was interlocutory, the president contested his exit from cups and in public he didn’t say too much. And yesterday, on the sidelines of the presentation of the medals celebrating the third championship, De Laurentiis’ words taste like a parting: “Spalletti is a champion and the champions have to find a field to express themselves at their best, he found it with us and everything worked. Better if in Naples? Without a doubt, but in life freedom is an immeasurable and invaluable good, we must not clip anyone’s wings, as no one must do it with me. We have to stay connected. The important thing is to be grateful to those who gave you and those who received. Whoever gave gave gave, whoever had had had, let’s scurdammoce o’ passat simm and Napul paisà”.

Scenarios

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The prospects for rupture call for reflection. And the discussions are already underway, between dreams and desires. International profiles belong to the first category. Klopp is the wonderful thought based on a mutual esteem never hidden and consolidated over time: the first contacts date back to 2013. Benitez, who will actually be entrusted with the bench that summer, would be the suggestive return. Then there is Conte, defined five years ago as “the perfect colonel for enforcing the rules”. This list also includes De Zerbi, armored by Brighton with a 13 million clause. The other leads concern Italiano and Gasperini, two figures able to enhance the strength of ideas, from the modern and offensive football philosophy.