Antonio Conte announces farewell to Napoli but dribbles the national team
Antonio Conte has officially announced his farewell to Napoli. After greeting the Maradona crowd at the end of the 1-0 win over Udinese, the coach spoke at a press conference with President Aurelio De Laurentiis. “A month ago I called the president and asked nothing. Neither about the project nor about downsizing. I sensed that my path here was coming to an end. I was not interested in anything, I made this decision. When I can’t change things, I come to a decision. The president told me, ‘If you reconsider, until the last day I am at your disposal’.”
De Laurentiis also reconstructed the confrontation he had with the coach: “To Conte I said, ‘Here for me is your home, but if you don’t feel more serene, not with Napoli, not with the city, but with a mode of the championship that the club makes you do in a certain way…’ Napoli cannot be Real Madrid, Barcelona, the top five English teams or Bayern Munich. We have to respect certain budgets and we cannot go beyond that.” The president then attacked the proxy system and some of the institutional dynamics of soccer.
During the conference, there was no shortage of moments of direct confrontation between the two. “If you had not had all these injuries, you would still have won the Scudetto,” De Laurentiis said. Conte’s retort was immediate: “No, I don’t agree. We were challenging an Inter team that had been reinforced and it was really difficult.”
Disputes also about the so-called “Arsenal model.” De Laurentiis noted, “They were eighth and came back to win. Also thanks to a top facility built inside the city of London.” Conte, shaking his head, retorted, “But they were not a Bournemouth, they were already a top club and they spent a lot.”
The coach then took some stones off his shoe: “In Naples I failed in not being able to compact the environment. I saw so much venom and discord against me and my players. Whoever spreads poisons is a failure. He does it to get a like on the post or to say, ‘Look at Conte how he attacked the team.’ Instead, Naples needs serious people. Coaching here has been a prestige and an honor, I thank President De Laurentiis for this opportunity, they have been two positive years.”
He concluded on the national team: “I simply said that if I were the federal president, I would consider my name. But at the moment there is still no federal president. Guardiola’s name has also been mentioned. But is the federation ready to have such a top coach? There are honors and burdens and status to be met. Is there the funding? Someone has proposed it, I would be the first to want it, but …”.
