Aurelio de Laurentiis, President of SSC Napoli, has caused outrage with a criticism of African football. African professionals would have to assure him in the future that they would no longer compete in the Africa Cup.
The Africa Cup is usually held every two years at the beginning of the year – and thus collides with the game calendar of the major European leagues. The fact that top African players who are under contract in Europe are not available to their clubs for several weeks has already caused criticism in the past.
Napoli boss de Laurentiis: “Don’t approach me with Africans”
So far, however, no club manager has gone as far as Aurelio de Laurentiis: The Napoli president announced that he would only want to sign players from Africa under certain conditions in the future. He justified this by saying that those professionals were missing several games in the middle of the season because of the Africa Cup of Nations. “Folks, don’t bother me with Africans anymore“Said the entrepreneur. He loves those players, but only wants to have them in the future if they give him written notice not to take part in the Africa Cup of Nations.
De Laurentiis added in the video interview, “Wall Street Italia” that the clubs are the “fools” who pay the players who then play for others.
Criticism by Kalidou Koulibaly and Roger Milla
Critics accuse the 73-year-old, who repeatedly attracts attention with controversial comments, of racism. “As captain of Senegal, I have to say that it’s not right to talk about an African team like that“said defender Kalidou Koulibaly, who recently switched from Napoli to Chelsea. There was initially no public reaction from the current African SSC professionals, such as the offensive jewel Victor Osimhen from Nigeria.
“The President of Napoli has no respect for African football and our continent“, former star striker Roger Milla told the Italian newspaper “Gazzetta dello Sport” (Thursday). “Why Africa? Why always Africa?” asked the 70-year-old Cameroonian.