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Nassr’s French coach Rudi Garcia directs his players during the Saudi Pro League football match … [+]
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It’s hardly a name that’s going to inspire confidence in the hearts of Napoli fans.
After a dozen names linked with the Napoli job in the wake of Luciano Spalletti’s departure, Aurelio De Laurentiis decided to select one of the outside choices.
For all the talk of Luis Enrique, Vincenzo Italiano, Christopher Galtier and even the odd mention of Rafa Benitez, De Laurentiis himself announced via Twitter that Rudi Garcia is the man to take over from the Scudetto-winning Spalletti.
Underwhelming is an understatement.
This is the same Garcia who was sacked from Saudi Arabian outfit Al-Nassr just over two months ago. The same Garcia that hasn’t won a trophy since 2011 and posted just a 53% win ratio in his last serious job – at Lyon from 2019 to 2021.
That Rudi Garcia.
Most remember Garcia for his two-and-a-half-year stint at Roma in the middle of last decade, when he took over from Zdeněk Zeman and was replaced by, coincidentally enough, Spalletti, who returned for a second spell in early 2016.
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Garcia equalled a Serie A record in his debut season, winning the first 10 games of the season, yet it still wasn’t enough to land the title. Juventus, in Antonio Conte’s last season at the club, romped to the title, finishing with a historic 102 points. Roma ultimately finished 2nd on 85 points, which would’ve won the title in four of the preceding five seasons.
Yet Garcia never managed to kick on from his first season in the Italian capital. His second campaign again finished in second place, again to Juve. By the middle of his third season and with a single win in nine league games, he was sacked. Spalletti steadied the ship and guided Roma to third.
Garcia will have to roll back the years in order to convince the Napoli public that he’s the man for the job. His last trophy came with Lille, when he won Ligue 1 in a pre-PSG-Qatar takeover landscape. His track record post-Roma doesn’t necessarily scream a coach at the top of his game, and it’s likely that Garcia only got the job in the first place because De Laurentiis told him one or two of the title-winning stars could be sold and he accepted it.
Kim Min-Jae seems all-but gone at this stage, with Bayern Munich now ahead of Manchester United in the running for the South Korean. Napoli bought Min-Jae for €18m ($19m) but will sell him for around €60m ($65m) after just a year. This represents a huge profit and incredibly astute business for Napoli but what they’ll lose in selling the best defender in Serie A last season is immeasurable.
Talk around Victor Osimhen refuses to go away either, with De Laurentiis no doubt waiting for the mega offer from the Premier
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League to arrive. With all of the big ‘three’ in Juve, Milan and Inter suffering from one issue or another, there is the chance for Napoli to win back-to-back titles, but the potential departure of Min-Jae, Osimhen and the hiring of Garcia doesn’t exactly scream ambition.
However, the same could’ve been said last summer, when Kalidou Koulibaly, Dries Mertens, Fabian Ruiz and Lorenzo Insigne all left. Just like a year ago, much will depend on Min-Jae’s replacement. Atalanta’s Giorgio Scalvini has been touted as a possible replacement, while Teun Koopmeiners could be an addition in midfield, according to reports.
Canada’s Jonathan David has been linked in case Osimhen leaves. But too much change in one summer isn’t good. Napoli got away with it last summer, but as defending champions, De Laurentiis should be looking to enhance the squad and improve it. Instead it feels like the opposite. Of course, it is early days and much can change before the start of next season.
With the shadow of Spalletti looming behind him, Garcia will need to repeat the start he made to his Roma career, but this time maintain the momentum. Otherwise, De Laurentiis may need to bring Spalletti back.
