Napoli sack Garcia after ‘shake-up’ over Kim Min-jae departure

Walter Mazzarri has returned to Napoli after a 10-year absence.

Napoli officially announced the dismissal of Rudi Garcia on the club’s website on Friday. Garcia’s dismissal had been a long time coming. Garcia, who succeeded Luciano Spalletti, who led the club to its first Serie A title in 33 years, performed below expectations, leading a Napoli team that did not make any major changes other than the departure of Kim Min-jae. Failure to manage the locker room and players also contributed to the loss of trust.

Earlier, journalist Fabrizio Romano wrote: “Napoli coach Garcia is on the verge of dismissal. It’s only a matter of time and the Napoli board is working on a replacement. Napoli president De Laurentiis is aware of this.” While everyone was calling for Garcia’s dismissal, the most common name mentioned as a possible successor was Tudor.

Tudor is a Croatian coach with experience in Italian Serie A, having managed Udinese and Elas Verona. He was at Marseille in the French Ligue 1 until last season, when he left and is now a free agent. A move to Napoli seemed to be a foregone conclusion, but he was reportedly disappointed with Napoli’s surprise (?) offer. Napoli only wanted to keep Tudor for the rest of the season.

Tudor turned down Napoli’s offer to stay on for the rest of the season. Napoli’s idea of a replacement was Valter Mazzarri. Mazzarri was a former Napoli coach and led the club as head coach for four years starting in 2009. After leaving Napoli in 2013, he went on to manage Inter Milan, Watford, Torino, and Cagliari. With the exception of his time at Napoli, all of them were short-lived.

After leaving Cagliari, he was without a club. Napoli decided to leave Mazzarri in charge for the rest of the season and think about the future. Napoli currently have 21 points after 12 Serie A games. They have won six, drawn three, and lost three. They are in second place in the UEFA Champions League (UCL) with two wins, one draw, and one loss in four 사설토토 matches. It’s a far cry from last season, when they won their first Serie A title in 33 years and reached the quarterfinals of the UCL for the first time in their history, but they’re in a position to bounce back.

It remains to be seen if Mazzarri, back in charge after a decade, can revitalize a faltering Napoli.