Since the premature end of Patrick Vieira’s adventure at Crystal Palace on March 17, 2023, no French coach has held a sideline in the first division in one of the four major championships (Germany, England, Spain and Italy). What if this scarcity ends in the next few weeks? Even if everything is far from being tied up, the hypothesis of seeing Rudi Garcia land in Naples, Serie A champion to replace Luciano Spalletti has taken shape in recent days.
According to our information‚ confirming the indiscretions of the Reppublica, the 59-year-old French technician, free since leaving Al Nassr in April and speaking fluently in the language of Dante, has solid aces up his sleeve. He has, we learn from concordant sources, already spoken with Aurelio De Laurentiis, the fiery president of the Parthenopean club. After the failure of the file leading to Luis Enrique, also followed by PSG, Naples is also interested in the coach of Fiorentina Vincenzo Italiano.
A convincing visit to Rome
Garcia, French champion with Lille in 2011, Europa League finalist with Marseille in 2018 and Champions League semi-finalist with Lyon in 2020, knows Serie A perfectly, having spent two and a half years there from 2013 to January. 2016 at AS Roma. He then forged a solid friendship with local legend Francesco Totti. During his first year in the transalpine capital, he finished 2nd in Serie A after having achieved the best start to the season in the history of the transalpine championship by winning his first ten games, better than the eight victories of Giovanni Trapattoni’s Juventus and Michel Platini in 1985-1986. The following exercise was in the same vein with a new Juventus runner-up spot at stake.
Contacted in the summer of 2015 by Real Madrid to succeed Carlo Ancelotti, he declined this proposal. A few months later, he was removed from his post and replaced by… Luciano Spalletti. Then passed by OM and Lyon, he had decided to join Saudi Arabia in the summer of 2022 while keeping in mind to find, quite quickly, a position in Europe where he retains a good rating as evidenced by the Manchester United approach the fall of 2021 as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer takes over. Naples if the contacts materialize could offer him a great opportunity to rebound.
Luciano Spalletti, eager to take a year off, said goodbye to Napoli on June 4, during the championship trophy ceremony. At the microphone of DAZN, he had been asked for any advice to his successor. “I will simply tell him to trust these players, because they have a lot of human and sporting qualities,” he explained.
