Italiano explained in an interview that his decision to join Beşiktaş came after extensive discussions with another Serie A club. "Yes, there was indeed an Italian team, but I won't say which one," Italiano confirmed. It doesn't take much to guess he was referring to Napoli.

Is Italiano's ambition too big for this Napoli?

Italiano's departure from Bologna coincided with the split between De Laurentiis and Conte at Napoli. During that period, he seemed the most suitable, and arguably the most logical, candidate to become Napoli's manager. However, the deal ultimately fell through, and the reason may be revealed in another quote from the manager's interview: "I'm a man of dreams, and my dream has always been to win the Serie A title."

These words illustrate the manager's ambition. He led Fiorentina to three consecutive finals and guided Bologna to a trophy after 50 years without one. For a Napoli team in rebuilding mode, is such ambition too much?

Conte said it long ago: "I'm not here to be part of a funeral."

In this context, Conte's stark observation, made 11 months after losing to Italiano's Bologna, rings true: "I'm not here to be part of a funeral." Did Conte already know then that Napoli and these players were headed for such a collapse? These players were exhausted by the intense, long-term pressure of a demanding manager, and that difficult manager always pushed every team to its limits, often leaving them physically and financially depleted.

Allegri bears responsibility but also appears a scapegoat. It was in this context that Napoli chose a more measured manager, one better aligned with the club's philosophy: Massimiliano Allegri. In this situation, Allegri appears both as the responsible party and as a victim, caught between on-field performance and management decisions. Yes, his Napoli had the worst start in seven years, and setting aside the numerous injuries, the team actually had all the conditions to perform better. Yet on the other hand, it's hard not to see that Napoli had reached the end of a cycle, and Allegri seemed to have been chosen for a reason: "to be part of a funeral."

Traduzido por IA.

O site do AF já está online! Acesse notícias completas, comentários, detalhes de partidas e estatísticas no seu computador. Acesse: www.allfootballapp.com