The blistering pace kept by Napoli in the second half of the season might convince Aurelio De Laurentiis to keep Gennaro Gattuso on the bench. The two have been at loggerheads since a disappointing stretch during the Winter, but the team has been on a roll since they recovered their injured players. While the president and the coach have rarely spoken in recent months, neither has definitely shut the door on reconciling and continuing together, Repubblica reports.
However, the two sides never actually agreed to the extension that was rumored early in the campaign. Therefore, the manager is under contract only until June, and the chairman will have to persuade him to look past their previous disagreements to stay. Gattuso has insistently been linked to Fiorentina.
De Laurentiis has been working on multiple scenarios for the future of the Napoli bench while his current coach looked poised to leave. Luciano Spalletti has gained steam in recent weeks and will be a strong option if the Partenopei qualify for Champions League. A reunion with Maurizio Sarri is instead unlikely for how they parted ways, transfer market expert Alfredo Pedullà reported.
If they finished outside of the top four, the owner could go for an up-and-comer like Vincenzo Italiano or Ivan Juric, while Roberto De Zerbi is closer to Shakhtar Donetsk. However, as far as this category is concerned, Repubblica adds that De Laurentiis is infatuated with Alessio Dionisi, who is leading Empoli to the promotion from Serie B. He considers the young gaffer very similar to Sarri as he has cut his teeth for a few years in the lower leagues before breaking out at Imolese in 2018/2019 and at Venezia in the following campaign.