The 2022/23 season has been such a beautiful season for Napoli. The team from the city of Naples ended the season as Serie A champions after waiting 33 years. This long wait could not be separated from the smart moves in the transfer market and the genius tactics of the coach, Luciano Spalletti. However, ahead of the 2o23/24 season, many incidents and rumors have hit Napoli before the pre-season period even opened.
The Allenatore’s retreat
Luciano Spalletti, who was appointed by Napoli in the 2021/22 season to replace Gennaro Gattuso, has proven capable of being the coach who brought Napoli to glory. In his first season, Spalletti failed to bring the title to Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, but this coach succeeded in bringing Napoli to the Champions League zone by bringing I Partenopei to 3rd place in Serie A at that time.
Spalletti’s second season with Napoli turned out to be a truly proud season. In Serie A, Napoli appeared dominant by only swallowing 4 defeats and making the gap very wide with the runner up, namely 16 points. Not only that, Napoli also appeared as a team with the best scoring and conceding records in the league.
Napoli also displayed impressive performance in the UEFA Champions League competition. This team was able to appear dominant in a group containing Liverpool, Ajax and Rangers with 15 points or only swallowed 1 defeat. Spalletti also succeeded in bringing Napoli to the quarter-finals which also became a historical record for Napoli. However, their steps in the highest competition among European clubs were actually stopped by fellow Italian representatives, AC Milan.
After bringing Napoli to impress in the various competitions he participated in, Spalletti resigned from his position as Napoli manager. Luciano Spalletti reasoned that he wanted to take a break from work. This unanimous decision has also been discussed with the president, Aurelio De Laurentiis.
This break was also taken in accordance with the clause agreed between Spalletti and Napoli that if the coach resigns in 2023 (Spalletti’s clause lasts until 2024) then the coach will not train another team for the next 1 season.
In response to the coach’s resignation, Napoli moved to secure the services of another manager. The manager appointed by Napoli is the French manager who is training Al Nassr, Rudi Garcia. Garcia himself is a coach who has experience in Serie A.
Rudi Garcia has handled AS Roma for 2.5 seasons. The name Garcia himself is actually quite a sensational coach where this coach successfully led Lille to win the Ligue 1 and Coupe de France competitions in the 2010/11 season and became French Manager of the Year in 2011, 2013 and 2014.
In the analysis of The Cult of Calcio, the appointment of Rudi Garcia is inseparable from the similarity of philosophy between Spalletti and Garcia. Both of these managers tend to prefer a style of attacking football and possession of the ball. So, the two coaches’ team are not the type to wait behind and counterattack by relying on one or two forwards.
Both of them also like to use the width of the field and take advantage of the forward players to tear apart the opponent’s defense through the fast movements of their players. At Napoli, this need was met with the presence of Kvhicha Kvaratskhelia, Hirving Lozano and Matteo Politano on the wings and Victor Osimhen up front. No wonder Napoli appointed Rudi Garcia as a replacement for Luciano Spalletti.
Italian supermarkets
One thing that is a concern for Italian clubs is the Italian team’s finances which tend to be weak. This causes the weak ability of Italian clubs (even top clubs) in buying players and paying players. So recently, Italian clubs have played more of the role of supermarkets for teams with strong finances such as Premier League clubs or top teams from other countries such as Bayern Munich, PSG and Real Madrid.
This financial weakness also cannot be separated from the champion, Napoli. Currently, there are already 2 crucial Partenopei players who have been tempted with more fantastic contracts at other clubs. The 2 players are Victor Osimhen and Kim Min-jae. Osimhen, who successfully became Serie A’s top scorer last season, is now being targeted by Premier League clubs such as Manchester United and Chelsea who need a sharp striker. Kim Min-jae, who was part of Napoli’s strong wall last season, was also tempted by the German giant, Bayern Munich. Bayern has even sent an official recruitment proposal with a nominal value of 6o million Euros.
A soccer team is indeed played with 11 players, but the presence of these 2 players is one of the crucial factors in Napoli’s swift tap of goals and the solid defensive walls of this sky-blue uniformed team. Victor Osimhen scored 26 goals in Serie A and 5 goals in the UEFA Champions League. Kim Min-jae is a defender who can make it difficult for opponents to break through and he is also able to replace Napoli’s previous mainstay centre-back, Kalidou Koulibaly, very well. Kim even became the defender with the highest minutes played in the 2022/23 season under the captain, Giovanni Di Lorenzo.
Losing these 2 players is clearly a big loss for Napoli. Napoli also has the tough task of guarding other major players such as Kvaratskhelia, Anguissa, Lobotska, Zielinski, and others. Losing too many key players will certainly make Napoli swayed, especially since they have just changed coaches, which automatically means that the team definitely needs adjustments to the new coach.
ASL
