I renew further and further. What is going on

Aurelio De Laurentiis he speaks as one who has not lost hope of being able to hold back Luciano Spalletti. But now between the two there is a frost. Sudden. Bothersome. Although yesterday, at the presentation of training camp number 13 in Dimaro-Folgarida (with renewal of the partnership with Trentino Marketing until 2026) he glossed over whenever he could on the future of his coach (“if you ask me for things other than training camp, I’ll get up and I’m leaving”) giving the impression of having no intention of breaking or putting his foot down in the light of the contract until 2024: “It was a nice dinner of friendship, thanksgiving and good humor”, he limits himself to saying going back to the Friday night appointment.

But beyond the sentences, it is clear that an iron curtain has now risen between the two. De Laurentiis caressed him every time the coach of the Scudetto could. As he did the night after the match against Fiorentina. «I left the party all to himself in Udine. Of course I could have put the medal on your chest and necessarily be the center of attention, I could have connected with the locker room but I left them alone because it was right for them to enjoy the moment ». But something is now wrong. And it gets worse and worse. And it’s out in the sun now. And the feeling is that the time that passes, with the enormity of hissing voices crawling, does not bode well. But De Laurentiis is serene, almost patiently awaiting that final conversation between him and Spalletti which will come to the end of everything, from their looking into each other’s eyes, from their showing their cards, finally. The patron has never used words, not even yesterday, not even half, that gave the impression of an adventure at the end of the line with Spalletti. Never. But is not so. And the real proof is that up to now he has never considered alternatives (Dionisi, Gasperini, Conte, Galtier, are the potential heirs).

True, De Laurentiis and Spalletti met several times yesterday also due to the small size of the technical center and they even drank a coffee together, but for a few moments. The president wanted to attend part of the morning training before the press conference. The team saw her, stayed for a few minutes and then walked away. In the corridors of the technical center he then met his technician around 11, and then also in the middle of the afternoon. With them also the CEO Andrea Chiavelli. Relations are formal which is a condition that still leaves open some (small) possibility that an agreement can be found for Spalletti’s stay. Because that’s what’s at risk, his permanence.

At the lunch with the top management of Trentino Marketing, Lucianone did not take part. Workaholic as he is, he preferred with Baldini and Domenichini to focus on the match against Inter. Then, before leaving, around 5.15 pm De Laurentiis returned to say goodbye to his coach. Formal gestures, nothing else. Also because these are days in which De Laurentiis is busy on various fronts: it is true that now his daughter Valentina is his right-hand man on the marketing front, but he is always at the center of everything. He also becomes hermetic when it comes to dealing with the new Napoli. «We consider our players very important and in my 19 years we have always made adjustments, even last year, after those genes were gone I said we would try to win the championship, promise kept. You can always do more, it’s a duty, and like every year there will be those who go and those who come».