2023-06-15 21:12:09
At 59, the coach is making his return to the Boot by recovering the position left vacant by Luciano Spalletti, the same man who succeeded him on the AS Roma bench in January 2016.
“What a pleasure to embrace the Napoli project. What a pleasure to return to Italy”, commented the Frenchman on Twitter. “I am motivated and ambitious as ever to continue to fly the colors of the Italian champions”.
In Italy, the end of Roman history (2013-2016) did not tarnish the excellent image of Garcia, known for the attractive attacking game deployed by his Giallorossi, who returned to his baton in the Champions League thanks to two second places in 2014 and 2015.
“Benvenuto Mister”, launched SSC Napoli on Twitter, a few minutes after a message from President Aurelio De Laurentiis announcing the news in preview.
“I am pleased to announce that after meeting him and having been with him for the past ten days, Mr. Rudi Garcia will be Napoli’s new coach,” explained Mr. De Laurentiis on Twitter.
The president, who had recently said he had made a list of forty names to succeed Spalletti, was interested in Garcia who was able to keep the system of play with an offensive trident set up by Spalletti.
Garcia knows the championship, the Italian language which he masters perfectly, and had the advantage of being free, three parameters which contributed to making him the lucky one in the eyes of the sports manager and film producer.
It will be necessary for the Frenchman to tame the immense popular and media pressure surrounding the Neapolitan club, crowned in May 33 years after his last Scudetto, in an overexcited atmosphere.
It was this whirlwind of emotions that also ended up winning Spalletti, “tired” at the end of the season and who announced that he wanted to “stay a little behind” football.
Return to Europe
For Garcia, the appointment to the Azzurri looks like a nice rebound, two months almost to the day after his forced departure from Al-Nassr, the Saudi club he had been coaching since July 2022.
In Ryad, the transplant never really took between the Frenchman and the yellow and blue club. He ended up being pushed out because of the poor results and above all, according to the Spanish media Marca, because of the tensions that arose with certain players, including the Portuguese mega-star Cristiano Ronaldo.
In the Bay of Naples, the stars of his locker room are Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Victor Osimhen, the best artificer of the last Serie A season with 26 goals in 32 matches.
He should also find the Cameroonian midfielder André Frank Zambo Anguissa, another pillar of the Italian champion, whom he had under his orders during their two joint years at Olympique de Marseille (2016-2018).
This announcement comes as the future of some key players in the 2023 title is not yet clarified.
While Kavarskhelia and young striker Giovanni Simeone will still be there, talks have yet to take place regarding Osimhen, who is highly coveted by Italian media. The player, who has never hidden his intention to evolve one day in the Premier League, would be in particular in the sights of Manchester United.
Solid South Korean defender Kim Min-jae would be him without Bayern Munich’s crosshairs.
Before OM and before Rome, it was in Lille that Garcia built his reputation and won his first titles, a double championship-Coupe de France in 2011 which earned him the trophy for best coach in Ligue 1.
He is now back in Europe, two years after the end of his term in Lyon (2019-2021). The pressure will be quite different and the expectations immensely higher.
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