by Friday was the 40th anniversary of the first one cinepanettone – a genre of comedy films released in Italy around Christmas every year. Vacanze de Natale It was produced by Aurelio De Laurentiis, the man who would go on to become the president of Napoli 21 years later. The story goes that he wasn’t impressed at first, worried that the jokes weren’t funny enough, but his switch to Italy’s nouveaux riches struck a chord. A tradition was born.
Related: Victor Osimhen signs new Napoli deal until 2026 – then sees red in Roma win
De Laurentiis was the one to splash the cash this weekend, signing Victor Osimhen on a new contract worth €10m a year after tax. He theoretically ties the Nigerian to Napoli until 2026, although a reported €130m release clause would not put him out of the reach of football’s richest buyers.
In any case, it was great news for a club that won Serie A for the first time in 33 years this spring, but whose fortunes have since declined. Napoli’s title defense has collapsed before Christmas and on Tuesday they were humiliated in the Coppa Italia, losing 4-0 at home to Frosinone.
In an interview with Corriere dello Sport on Friday, De Laurentiis regretted his decision to hire Rudi Garcia as manager in the summer. Luciano Spalletti had won the Scudetto, and it was always difficult to find a replacement.
De Laurentiis told the newspaper that his first choice, Thiago Motta, turned down the job because he only saw disadvantages. The best he could hope for was to repeat another man’s achievements. If he failed, he would be lumbered with unfavorable comparisons.
Luis Enrique was the next choice but, according to the owner, he wanted too much money. Two or three others, including Julian Nagelsmann, were contacted before De Laurentiis landed Garcia, “who has won twice in Italy [at Roma, in 2014 and 2015] with chaotic dressing rooms, full of high-level players.”
“I realized that Garcia was not the right choice the day I awarded him at Capodimonte,” continued De Laurentiis. “I should have done a coup de theater and said: ‘I gave it to you but now it’s going’. Because someone who comes in and says: ‘I don’t know Napoli, I’ve never watched a game… I should understand. Instead, I laughed it off. In fact he did it again on other occasions.”
Garcia’s opening press conference was quite the experience. Journalists at the time were surprised by the failure of the French to recognize Spalletti’s achievements. But Garcia has now been gone for six weeks – fired on November 14. You’d be hard-pressed to argue that things have improved since then.
I remember watching Garcia’s revelation and being amazed by his composure and courage. I was so surprised when he turned down one of the best seasons in Napoli history that I had to text two colleagues and ask them, “Didn’t he actually mention Spalletti once?”
Crazy https://t.co/mIGmYVbHPu— Patrick Kendrick (@patrickendrick) December 22, 2023
His replacement, Walter Mazzarri, had previously managed Napoli, guiding them to third place in 2011 and second in 2012. Like their recurring stars cinepanettoni, his role was not to excite viewers but to reassure them that we were back on familiar ground. No one expected him to win any awards, just to repeat the lines that made them smile.
But, football doesn’t work like that. After Saturday night’s 2-0 win over Roma, Mazzarri has lost five of eight games in charge. This one could have ended differently if not for a pair of red cards in the second half. Matteo Politano went first after being kicked out by Nicola Zalewski. The Roma player’s reaction was theatrical, and Mazzarri would cry as the opponents took Politano’s shirt during a game that was ill-tempered from the start. But this was still unnecessary self-harm.
The game was scoreless when Politano retired, but it wasn’t for much longer. Lorenzo Pellegrini made the most of a brilliant ball inside the Napoli box, turning to finish past Alex Meret.
Osimhen was then sent off for double booking. He responded furiously, accusing Stephan El Shaarawy of diving. It wasn’t clear on the replays how much contact there was, but Osimhen was playing with fire, pressing from behind to disrupt Roma’s counter-attack in a game where referee Andrea Colombo was quick to show his cards throughout the night.
Napoli played some of the final minutes with eight players, substitute Natan receiving treatment for a shoulder injury. Those still on the pitch showed great resolve, pushing forward with an equalizer even in the sixth minute of injury time. But when a final attack broke inside the Roma area, the hosts fought back and secured the points with a goal from Romelu Lukaku.
Any assessment of Mazzarri’s work should acknowledge that he has faced a very punishing run of fixtures. His seven games before Saturday included visits to Real Madrid, Juventus and Atalanta, as well as a home game against Inter.
Still, the question of whether Napoli have done any better with him than they would have under Garcia hangs in the air. The Frenchman has not lost in Napoli, and no one is arguing that the teams were on a good path under his leadership, but it remains true that he has lost fewer times during his 16-game tenure than Mazzarri has in just eight.
There is no suggestion that De Laurentiis is considering another change just yet. He told the Corriere dello Sport that he intended to strengthen the playing squad in January, adding “at least three new players”. “I have to strengthen the defense with a center back and a left back to support him [Giovanni] Di Lorenzo,” he said. “And then I have to get a midfielder, or maybe two.”
The use of the first person was not casual. De Laurentiis is running this production, for better and for worse. Sometimes, in fact, his missteps seem to be driven by his reluctance to share the credit for Napoli’s success with anyone else.
His failure to recognize the exceptional job Spalletti was doing – trying to encourage an automatic contract extension rather than offering improved terms – was a factor in the manager’s decision to leave. De Laurentiis similarly played down the work done by former Napoli sporting director Cristiano Giuntoli before his summer move to Juventus, insisting his son Edoardo Khvicha first identified Kvaratskhelia as a transfer target.
Spalletti returned to Naples earlier this month for a ceremony in which he was awarded honorary citizenship of the city. He warmly greeted De Laurentiis there, and thanked him for their time together, but jokingly compared his former employer to a monster from a horror film. “Just when you think the movie is over and you can finally rest in peace,” Spalletti said, “he shows up again to pour you your drink and popcorn.”
As usual, De Laurentiis quickly hit back, saying that the only progress American cinema has made in the last 40 years is thanks to the horror genre. Maybe he’s right. However, fans of his football team would prefer to approach Christmas with something sweeter.
