Gennaro Gattuso will leave Napoli, chairman Aurelio De Laurentiis confirms on Sunday evening after the game against Hellas Verona (1-1). The coach’s contract expired at the end of the season and is not renewed by Napoli. The club missed qualification for the Champions League due to the draw, but it was expected that Gattuso would leave anyway. The trainer was at odds with De Laurentiis.
“Dear Rino“I’m glad I spent the last two years with you,” wrote De Laurentiis on Twitter. “Thank you for the work you’ve done. I wish you the best in the rest of your career. A big hug for you, your wife and your children. Aurelio De Laurentiis. “Despite the sweet words, the press in Italy is convinced that Gattuso and De Laurentiis could not get along. Last October, the club legend of AC Milan appeared to be renewing his contract in Naples for another two years. , but the sporting performances became a lot more changeable and the relationship between Gattuso and De Laurentiis cooled.
In recent months, Italian media have already written about Gattuso’s impending farewell. According to reports, De Laurentiis and Gattuso have not spoken to each other in recent months. Gattuso openly expressed his dissatisfaction in January at reports that De Laurentiis had spoken with new candidate trainers. The chairman is said to have been about to fire the former midfielder and reportedly spoke with Rafael Benítez and Maurizio Sarri, although it did not come to a change of manager. Even when the sporting performances improved significantly from March and Napoli headed for Champions League football, the relationship between trainer and president remained cool.
Gattuso took over at Napoli in December 2019. He was appointed as successor to the fired Carlo Ancelotti. At that moment Napoli was seventh in the league and that also became the final classification under Gattuso. He did win the final of the Coppa Italia after penalties from Juventus. This season he finished fifth in Serie A with Napoli, reached the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia and the sixteenth finals of the Europa League, while Juventus proved too strong in the battle for the Supercoppa. Gattuso was previously a trainer at FC Sion, Palermo, OFI Crete, Pisa and AC Milan.