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Extended Clip - Napoli Transfer Chaos: Victor Osimhen, Kim Min-Jae & Luciano Spalletti Set To Leave
1.3k Plays3 years ago
After Luciano Spalletti all but confirmed he's leaving Napoli over the weekend and with rumors claiming Victor Osimhen, Kim Min-Jae as well as Sporting Director Cristiano Giuntoli could also depart, Nima Tavallaey Roodsari and Carlo Garganese discuss if Aurelio De Laurentiis is playing with fire or if he's crazy like a fox.
This is an extended clip from this weeks free Monday episode of The Italian Football Podcast which is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google podcasts.
To listen to ALL complete episodes of The Italian Football Podcast, go to Patreon.com/TIFP and become a Patron for only $2.99 USD per month (excluding VAT).
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Transcript
Napoli's Off-Pitch Issues
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to the Italian football podcast. Let's talk about Napoli moving forward now because this win was great, but there is a lot going off the pitch right now at Napoli. And it is a shame, to be honest, because this has been such a historic season that it feels like what is going on with Spelletti and De Laurentiis is at the moment anyway, it's spoiling things.
Future of Spalletti at Napoli
00:00:29
Speaker
You know, when the stories started emerging over Spelletti leaving, and, you know, I thought at first, I didn't really believe in it that much, to be honest. I thought that this was just your classic Spelletti wanting a pay rise, De Laurentiis playing hardball, you know, stories getting put out in the press from both sides in order, or from Spelletti's side, certainly, for his agent and everything, you know, trying to put pressure on
00:00:56
Speaker
on De Laurentiis to give him a pay rise. And yes, maybe there was a little bit something in there in terms of feeling a little bit disrespectful that his contract was extended by a year via an automated email.
00:01:10
Speaker
There wasn't any congratulations, apparently, from De Laurentiis to winning the Scletto. He felt like, you know, this great achievement that it hadn't been recognized. I thought at first that, yeah, there was probably a bit of that, but I thought it was more down to, you know, this is just negotiation, but negotiations, basically. But now the more the more the more that's coming out and then seeing what Spoletti said last night, he was almost almost saying goodbye last night. And now I'm thinking, well, actually, maybe there is something more to this now.
De Laurentiis' Management Critique
00:01:38
Speaker
Yes, there is more to this. It's obvious that there is more to this. And De Laurentiis has got, I mean, anyone who listens to this podcast and anyone who's followed me through the years about De Laurentiis, I've always said that I think that people in Naples or fans that criticize him are a little bit too harsh because I think what he's done with Napoli is given them balance and stability, financial one, and been able to win trophies, which is something they've never had in their history. Never.
00:02:08
Speaker
But I wonder if he's starting to show signs of megalomania here because he is on the verge of losing his sporting director and his championship winning coach here through him being this kind of
00:02:30
Speaker
pushy, not-so-diplomatic guy who activates the option in Luciano Spaletti's contract
00:02:39
Speaker
without informing Luciano Spalletti, which has really ticked him off. And he wants, he thinks he deserves a salary increase, Spalletti. And, you know, we know how delicate this is with money. He is, he runs a tight ship. And, you know, I think he has to. Otherwise Napoli would never be in the position they are. But you have to be a little bit more diplomatic. The season's not even over. And it's starting to look like, you know, like it's imploding the entire project.
00:03:08
Speaker
And he needs to be careful here, because if it implodes, he is bitten off more than he can chew, because that incredible joy, that happiness, all of that positive energy enables towards him for what they've done, can easily and quickly swing the whole 180 degrees round the pendulum and become completely toxic.
00:03:36
Speaker
And that is not a situation that he will survive in Naples. They will chase him out of town. They will run him out of town because he's messing with
Potential Coaching Changes at Napoli
00:03:51
Speaker
balances here that are far greater than what he can control, unless, of course, unless he already has a backup plan in place and is just waiting for the season to end before he unveils it. That can also be a possibility here. Yeah, I'm not sure, because I mean, if there's one thing about Spoletti is he is quite proactive. He is a very proactive person. So he is somebody that decides to make the change before
00:04:19
Speaker
It's obvious to everyone else. I'm talking about from De Laurenti's perspective. That's what I'm talking about. I'm talking about from De Laurenti's perspective. I'm wondering whether De Laurenti's has already made a decision. I'm going to have a loose polletti and I've already got a coach lined up who I think is going to be better, is younger, is going to freshen things up. That's what I'm thinking as well. That's what I wonder. And maybe we'll be hearing six months time saying, you know what, he's made the right decision again. Well, exactly.
00:04:44
Speaker
But most people, I know you're probably one of the few ones that didn't, but most people were questioning his decisions last summer. No, I thought they were brilliant last summer. I thought they were absolutely spot on. Every single one to get rid of Kooli Bali and Senior Mertens Ruiz was genius and to get paid as much as he did financing his entire summer market, maybe even turning a little bit of a profit. Yeah, but the number of people that he got rid of at once, and that's where Napoli stand now, you know, they could lose their coach, they could lose their sporting director, Junzli, who built this whole project.
Giuntoli's Juventus Contract
00:05:13
Speaker
But I wonder, I mean, that's something we'll talk about in the Juventus section. We're hearing things about how Giuntoli is not, that seems less likely now of him going to Juve. Well, it's because De Laurentiis is holding on to him. Giuntoli and Juventus, I know, I've spoken to people, that is a great, he's already agreed a contract with Juventus, it's all done.
00:05:32
Speaker
It's all done from the Juventus and Juntzili side. All done. The salary, everything. It's all done. Juntzili wants to join the Juventus. Everything's sorted from that. And the only thing that's holding it up is Juntzili agreeing with De Laurentiis about leaving. He's still got a year left on his contract. And De Laurentiis, if Juntzili is going to leave, he wants compensation.
00:05:57
Speaker
from from well from Juventus you know and so that's that's that's that's the issue with Junzli but you know then you've got the players as well you've got Ossemane and Kim I mean I think it's it's
00:06:10
Speaker
If the money is paid up, I think it's inevitable us human leaves and Kim will not really have no power over that because he's got a release clause and it seems like there's Premier League teams that will pay that release clause in the first two weeks of July. Again, it's a lot
00:06:29
Speaker
It goes back to what I've said. Last summer was genius.
Risks of Napoli's Frequent Player Changes
00:06:33
Speaker
It was incredible. It paid off. But you can't do that year after year after year. And it's not sustainable. It might work one year. It worked last year. It was a perfect storm. They got rid of aging players who were past their best or getting past their best and everyone that they brought in.
00:06:51
Speaker
it just worked. You know, that doesn't happen all the time. Sometimes it doesn't. No, there is a risk involved. There's no doubt that there's risk involved. But I get the feeling that the Valentis does have something lined up. And as for Giuntoli, you know, look, Skye were talking about that it seems much less likely that Juventus, that Giuntoli goes to Juventus now. And that they were talking about the in-house solution at Juventus.
00:07:17
Speaker
They didn't really say anything, so I don't want to interpret or read too much into it, but I couldn't tell if that was from Juventus' side or from the Laurenti side or both. They were very coy on that, at least from what I saw when I was watching Carissa and these guys talk about this.
00:07:34
Speaker
Um, so that, that, that, that, you know, that, that depends entirely on what, you know, kind of, you know, Juventus are also in turmoil. So we'll have to wait and see. But to me, it suggests if I were to, I understand Spaletti, he, he's, he's turning 65 soon. You know, he, he has one big contract left in him, one or two, and he wants to make the right choice. If he leaves, you think Tottenham.
00:07:58
Speaker
No, God, I would never wish that on him. But do you think he will go there, though? Oh, I hope not. I think that would be a mistake. I think Spaletti going to Tottenham would be a mistake. I think there are other teams in England and I would rather see him in.
00:08:13
Speaker
But if there is an offer, sure. I mean, they need a sporting director as well. I mean, Spalletti is at the stage in his career where he wants to, you know, he needs to see what the sporting project is. I wouldn't be surprised. I mean, look, I think Milan will make it into the top four, you know, but in the end, when everything's said and done after Juventus penalties are handed out. But I think they'll still manage to do that. But I would, I would, I think him at Milan would be
00:08:43
Speaker
fantastic. I think he would be able to develop Milan in a way, and it would be such a revenge on Inter as well, wouldn't it, if he were to go there and do something important there.
Potential Coaches for Napoli
00:08:53
Speaker
So I think Milan is... Napoli is definitely one to watch. That's for sure. I'm sure there will be more opportunities to discuss. I'm thinking that Zerbe could go to Napoli. I can't shake off that feeling more and more.
00:09:07
Speaker
given how everything looks and given how his wage, the wage has been quite clear that he wants to stay in the Premier League. But, you know, I think there are a lot, there are options there. There's Italiano, there's D'Zerbi, there's Nagelsmann, that's even mentioned. I'd like to see Nagelsmann de Laurentiis, two egos there, starting it out. Well, there's been talk of Conte as well, which I find really, really
00:09:30
Speaker
There's even been talk of Klopp as well, which I don't think is possible because his salary is too big. But Konta would be fascinating, because those two will never agree. That is just a ticking time, Bob, from day one. But it would be fascinating to see what Konta could do with his squad. I also think his salary demands are too high as well. But again, we've discussed this about Konta and how, if he wants to come back to Italy, he has
Impact of Wage Policies on Coaching Prospects
00:09:56
Speaker
to
00:09:56
Speaker
No, regardless of where he goes. Yeah, but he needs to take a massive P-80, which is huge. Well, that's what I mean, regardless of where he goes. Half, even more than half, is his pay. Oh, without a doubt. Without a doubt, he has to, you know, the De La Rentais doesn't break his wage budget for anybody.