Napoli sporting director Cristiano Giuntoli says he doesn’t want to talk about the future right now, despite being linked with Juventus. The 51-year-old was speaking at the ‘Inside the Sport 2023′ event held at Coverciano and looked back at a phenomenal season for Napoli which included a Scudetto victory:
“I am happy and excited to be here. Receiving an award here, in the temple of football, is always a great emotion. Spalletti really did an extraordinary job, he absolutely wanted this result. Last year we created the foundation to make this great Napoli. Great credit goes to him, as well as to the boys and the ownership. There is a lot of talk about players and results, this year he has reached the maximum between beauty and simplicity, between dribbling and verticality. He sought it out, the boys were great, they are great players, but Spalletti really did an extraordinary number. Thank you Luciano.
At Napoli, after illustrious goodbyes, players like Kvaratskhelia, who were unknown, arrived at the club. It is said that you see something before others….
“There are no secrets. The players we signed were also known to others, we had the courage and timeliness to take them at the right time, this is the result of a great collaboration that there is within Napoli, we worked elbow to elbow with Spalletti. Great players have left, last year we had major injuries for long periods otherwise even last year we could have had our say.”
What’s going on in your future?
“For now I just want to talk about the past. When you take an award, you take it for what you have done in the past. In the future we will see if I am good enough to win more.”
How does your network of scouts work?
“Now there are tools that allow everyone to get to know certain players. The difference has been the timing and the courage to take them instead of big name players. Right now everyone knows everything. The difficulty is always the timing. We had to lower the payroll but we made a virtue of necessity. By maintaining quality what has come out has come out, but the great credit goes to Luciano Spalletti.”
How do you retain a star?
“With relationships. The good of one’s own members is the good of the club, to keep the mood high we have to understand the mood of others.”
What judgment do you give to the city Naples?
“We who live football, unfortunately we don’t experience the city so much. We go to the pitch in the morning, we go out in the evening. Naples gives you something different in terms of warmth, it is an incredible place that conveys great enthusiasm. A beautiful and extraordinary city for what you can transmit.”
The future?
“I don’t want to talk about it, today I am the sporting director of Napoli and there is still a week left until the end of the championship.”
