Luciano Spalletti revealed he will not be taking an entire year off from football: “I will evaluate my return between December and January”. The Tuscan tactician left Napoli at the end of last season having won the Scudetto, with media reports claiming he would be taking a year-long sabbatical from the game. Speaking with Sky Sport, the coach explained that he never revealed how long he would be away from coaching:
“Am I happy? Yes, because I have been enveloped by this enthusiasm that has infected me. But happiness is something fleeting that lasts one night and the next day you’re looking for a straightforward setting to start again. Does it depend on football? Even if you love football, I have conditioned my family and my life for this sport, you then have to deal with the level of love you have and the level of demand there is. I will evaluate my return between December and January”.
“Sometimes even if you have done very well you think you might be missing something to give back to this joy. I said tonight that the Neapolitans have given me so much joy that it is neither in heaven nor on earth. They have given me wonderful sensations, no goal and no Scudetto could make them deserve all the joy and enthusiasm they have given me. I’ll always have something special for them, I’ll always make it happen for Napoli and I’ll always defend them.
“Tired of resting? I see it as hard, I still have to open all the boxes I brought from Napoli. I have personal matters to sort out, which take me some time. Actually I am a bit tired, I had my family and my young daughter away. In 10 days the teams start again and I wouldn’t know with what enthusiasm I would have left if I had still been the coach of Napoli or in Serie A.
“They deserve things that I can’t give them at the moment. I am a very applied and executive person, but also self-disciplined. For the moment you stay outside, then later, around December-January, you’ll get the posture right for coaching inside the dressing room. Football is easy, everyone can say that, but you have to tell us something different and more innovative. Sportspeople want to hear something different, everyone can say that. It is true, because you have to get behind the things of Vialli, Baggio, Mancini, Del Piero and Totti, but then there is the work of other players who have been on the level of these and have also limited them through sacrifice and application. You have to explain how these ones did it, and whether there is even more stuff for youngsters to take root from.”
“Where do I see myself afterwards in Italy or abroad? I don’t know, you have to see how I arrive after consuming what I think I need. I may be disappointed to stay at home, after a while maybe I’ll think it was better what I was living before. My love for the sport has conditioned my life, the videos I have to watch for the team and the goal you want to go after is very important. From there you go and find new solutions for the team that can bring you an extra victory. Sky has been fundamental in this, you have brought the stands behind the sofa at home and the dressing room into the living rooms. You don’t have to say only football is easy, this year I’ll also chat a few times on television.”
“By what do I judge a footballer? I judge him by his character, then of course he must have quality. The game is an empty box that he has to fill, whoever fills it the most is the best footballer. There are players who are offside 15 times in a game, you have to be able to stimulate them. Kvara beats a lot of men, and that’s fine as a quality, but if he stops there, the recoveries and counter-attacks and defensive shooting also become important advantages. You go for more modern, role-less football. Di Lorenzo is that something extra that completes it, he is modern football.
“To whom did I dedicate the last sentence of my diary? It goes to this city and this public. There is no beauty that can return what they have given me. They really made me feel how impossible it is to deserve someone. Maradona will have been a thousand times more, I can only imagine what it could have been. They will always remain in my heart, I will always carry these fans and this public with me. I will always defend Naples, it deserves it. It is an incredible city, it is a continuous knowledge. I did two years of university life in Naples, I got to know beautiful situations. We often talked about it inside the locker room, the fans were the driving force behind the stimulus to play matches.”
