Napoli Hire Rudi Garcia As New Manager
Serie A Champions Napoli have hired Rudi Garcia as its next manager. Garcia replaces former manager Luciano Spalletti, who led Napoli to its first Scudetto in 33 years.
After winning the league, Spalletti decided to step down as Napoli’s manager.
“Now I’m not able to give everything Napoli deserves,” Spalleti said. “I need to take a break for a bit. I won’t coach Napoli or other teams. I’ll take one year off.”
Napoli immediately began searching for Spalletti’s successor following his decision to take a sabbatical from managing. Names such as Luis Enrique, Antonio Conte and Thiago Motta were linked with the Napoli job.
It was Garcia who ultimately got the nod, though.
“I have the pleasure of announcing that, after having met and attended him during the last 10 days, Mr Rudi Garcia will be the new coach of Napoli,” Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis said. “A sincere welcome to him and a big good luck!”
Via BBC
The French manager’s last managerial role was with Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia, the club, of course, where Cristiano Ronaldo currently plays.
Garcia was fired by the club in April, however, due to reports of an uneasy relationship with the Portuguese superstar.
Before his managerial stint in Saudi Arabia, Garcia managed multiple teams in his native France, including Lille, Marseille and Lyon. During his time with Lille, he won a Ligue 1 and Coupe de France double.
Garcia also has managerial experience in Serie A, managing Roma for two and a half seasons. Funnily enough, he was actually replaced by Luciano Spalleti at Roma after being sacked in January 2016.
Now, after seven years away from Italy, Garcia is back in Serie A and has a tall task ahead of him. He is charged with following a managerial performance for the ages from Spalletti.
Napoli had not won a Scudetto since the Diego Maradona era. Now, they are at the top of Italian football and will expect to stay there.
This will be challenging since the quality of teams in Serie A is on the rise. The league has had four different champions in the last four years. All three UEFA club competitions this season also had an Italian club playing in the final.
It is going to be Garcia’s job to make sure the level does not drop and that Napoli continues fighting to be at the top of Serie A.
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