Spalletti admits he left Napoli because of ‘Sultan’ De Laurentiis | OneFootball

Luciano Spalletti admits he left Napoli because he was ‘tired of fighting battles’ with President Aurelio De Laurentiis, who didn’t even call him or the team after winning the Serie A title in 2022-23.

Italy coach Spalletti’s biography came out today in Italy. The title is ‘Il Paradiso esiste, ma quanta fatica,’ which translates into ‘The paradise exists, but what a struggle.’

Spalletti presented his book during a TV show on Monday night, admitting that he had a conflicting relationship with Napoli President De Laurentiis.

Clearly, he said even more in his biography, as quoted by Corriere della Sera.

“I left because I no longer desired to endure this ongoing personality clash with a capable entrepreneur, someone to whom the city owes a great deal but who has a very, perhaps too large, ego. Aurelio De Laurentiis.

epa11726490 Italy’s head coach Luciano Spalletti reacts during the UEFA Nations League soccer match between Italy and France at the Giuseppe Meazza stadium in Milan, Italy, 17 November 2024. EPA-EFE/DANIEL DAL ZENNARO

“The president was the one who sealed everything and certified whether a decision was right or not. I was tired of fighting battles over every little issue. Whether it was giving a jersey to players who asked for one for their children, or constantly changing hotels for various reasons, even in this, the Sultan always found a way to surprise us. The man, as everyone knows, is highly imaginative. Unpredictable. Capable of throwing in that one extra line of reasoning that completely throws you off. Like that time, early in my Napoli days. Our usual hotel was on Corso Vittorio Emanuele.

“Then Juventus came to town, and we were told we had to change ‘homes.’ An eviction order. We were rerouted to another hotel in the city centre, inconvenient for travel to the stadium, with all the natural doubts that such a move can stir up among the players. Like the idea that the opponents were dictating our routines. That year, this kind of forced change happened several more times: we had to deal with four or five different hotel arrangements.

Spalletti: No De Laurentiis calls after Napoli’s Serie A title

Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis arrives for the screening of the film “Freaks Out” presented in competition on September 8, 2021 during the 78th Venice Film Festival at Venice Lido. (Photo by Marco BERTORELLO / AFP) (Photo by MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP via Getty Images)

“In short, during my entire time in Naples, I played two simultaneous matches: one against our opponents, and the other against the president. A constant confrontation, often on the edge of conflict.

“During the Scudetto season, on the eve of a difficult match, the president texted me, according to him, to motivate me: ‘You can go twelve points clear at the top, fire up the boys!’ He had just turned on the hot water tap. I replied, ‘Thank you for the valuable advice, President, I’ll keep it in mind.’ That year, his love for Napoli showed mostly in the fact that he stopped not only commenting on the line-ups but also speaking publicly to the journalists. It was a silence that made noise. The greatest sacrifice for someone like him, an entertainer and showman who loves to be at the centre of attention.

“Maybe, I suppose, it was that same reluctance, that same desire not to appear as the protagonist, that led him to stay silent on the night of the Scudetto win. His excessive reserve meant he didn’t even make a phone call to at least share the achievement, while the entire city went wild with joy. He didn’t call the night we won the title. Not the coach, not the players, not the sporting director, not the team manager. He didn’t call anyone. Too busy playing his own personal game on the jubilant pitch at the Maradona. All those solo laps around the field had worn him out. He called the next day because he had arranged for us to land at the Grazzanise military airport instead of Capodichino. And in that phone call, he asked how the trip had gone, like the polite man he is. Then came another silence.

“Some time later, the president had a handwritten letter delivered to me by the new director of the Castel Volturno training centre, who had recently been hired and whom I barely knew. After a line and a half of formal congratulations for the Scudetto, he addressed the necessity of adhering to the contract, specifically its automatic one-year extension. There was a clause giving him the unilateral right to enforce it. At the time of signing, he had insisted on a two-year deal plus a two-year option. I had barely managed to reduce it to just one optional year.

Napoli defender Giovanni Di Lorenzo (C) holds the Italian Scudetto Championship trophy as he and his teammates celebrate winning the 2023 Scudetto championship title on June 4, 2023, following the Italian Serie A football match between Napoli and Sampdoria at the Diego-Maradona stadium in Naples. (Photo by Ciro FUSCO / POOL / AFP) (Photo by CIRO FUSCO/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

“In his natural enthusiasm, which sometimes crosses the line into overconfidence, the president tends to forget that there aren’t just employees, but people behind contracts. As I wrote back to him, in a handwritten letter as well, it would have been helpful and right to talk things through, for the good of Napoli. Doing so might have changed how things turned out. But instead, back in March already, during the Bearzot Award ceremony at the Maschio Angioino, he took the microphone and asked himself a question no one had posed: ‘Do you want to ask me if Luciano Spalletti will stay at Napoli?’ he asked the host. ‘Luciano Spalletti will stay at Napoli,’ he answered himself. Confident in his belief that he could impose his will on me.

“Even now, many ask me: ‘But had the president acted differently back then, had he shown more attention and sensitivity, would you have made a different decision? Would you have stayed at Napoli?’ It’s a question I’ve always let drop. The answer is yes. If there had been more human respect, more dialogue, and more openness about what it would take to win again, in the end, I would have stayed.

“In any case, I will always thank him for allowing me to coach Napoli.”