Napoli president De Laurentiis made his presence felt during the ongoing soft retreat: “We have finalized the acquisition of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, and we hope he will be a coup. We will have to come up with a nickname for him, maybe Zizì.”
The owner talked to Sky Sport: “I have come here after eight months of silence, not of absence. I am in touch with Luciano Spalletti almost daily. We had a discussion with him and the medical staff. We were a Ferrari after the summer, while other teams are fitter and better prepared than us now. I can not accept that. It is not imaginable to have so many losses at home. Milan spend €40M less than us on wages.”
De Laurentiis stated that Spalletti would keep helming Napoli: “He has three years left on his contract, including a club option. I have never considered replacing him. Our objective is to qualify for the Champions League, although the appetite comes with eating. Nobody was thinking about winning Scudetto, Europa League, or Coppa Italia before the season. Considering the COVID-19 pandemic and previous acquisitions, we are in the red for €220M and have our most expensive squad in recent years.”
The chairman addressed the future of Dries Mertens: “Why would he leave if he is surrounded by so much beauty? He even called his son Ciro. He has to prove he wants to stay, though. He told me that we would speak again after the final game.”
“I am sorry to lose Lorenzo Insigne. I treated him like a son, and he will forever be part of Napoli’s history. The next campaign will be very challenging, considering all the matches scheduled by UEFA and FIFA. They do not realize that the fans care about domestic leagues.”