Mazzarri, De Laurentiis: “It's painful to sack a friend”. Naples in Calzona

Naples, De Laurentiis, 'Mazzarri will remain in the hearts of Neapolitans, welcome back to Calzona'

“I thank Walter Mazzarri, friend of the De Laurentiis family and of Napoli, for supporting the team in a complex moment. It will remain in the hearts of Neapolitans and our family. Welcome back to Francesco Calzona, who has already worked with us both with Sarri and Spalletti”. Thus the president of Napoli, Aurelio De Laurentiis on X announces the dismissal of Mazzarri and the arrival of Calzona on the Azzurri bench.

Napoli, De Laurentiis, 'now let's try to help Calzona without contrasts'

“Smart choice? We'll see about this, time is a gentleman. We welcome Calzona and above all we try to help him, without conflicts because it will always be very complicated to prepare in 24 hours for a very difficult match like the one against an important team like Barcelona which has great players.” The president of Napoli, Aurelio De Laurentiis, said this to Sky when speaking about the new Napoli coach. “What did I ask Calzona? He will come tomorrow morning with all his collaborators. We will talk for a long time, then we will go to Castelvoturno, I will introduce him to all the boys, even if he needs no introduction, even to the new ones he doesn't know. He will be complete immerse ourselves in a reality, then we will also have to go to the stadium for this fateful UEFA press conference”, added De Laurentiis who also spoke about Marek Hamsik. “Will he also be on the staff? I spoke to Hamsik yesterday. He is very intrigued to work for a team that he loves, a Napoli champion, he was a blue flag.”

Naples, De Laurentiis, 'Mazzarri a friend, it's always painful to sack a friend'

“Walter Mazzarri is a friend of the De Laurentiis family and above all a friend of Napoli, and it is always painful to sack a friend. I thanked him because he was very willing to come to our aid in times of difficulty, but we must also consider that at Napoli and the Napoli fans must always be able to give something more and now we are trying to give it with Calzona who worked first with Sarri and then with Spalletti and knows 80% of our players.” These are the words of Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis to Sky which marks the end of the relationship with Walter Mazzarri and the beginning of the collaboration with the Slovakia coach Francesco Calzona.