“It’s a source of pride to win while respecting the rules.” Aurelio De Laurentiis in the footsteps of Rocco Commisso? More or less. On the sidelines of the presentation of the partnership with Sorgesana, Napoli’s new back sponsor, the owner of the Neapolitan club spoke about his 20 years as president, which have transformed the blue club into a milestone for the big names in European football: “It has always been said that Napoli is a club of passage for footballers. False! Today we are not only a club that launches champions, but also a point of arrival. Established champions want to come, one of the best coaches in the world strongly wanted Napoli. In a phase where football spends less, Napoli invests over 150 million euros in the summer market.
I read that ADL has gone crazy he takes out all this money, but the other year after the Scudetto we made the wrong purchases but we didn’t spend little… and in the other years we didn’t spend little either. 150 million and more are the basis of a total change. If I say let’s start from scratch it means rebuilding and therefore investing”.
In his speech, which you can read here in full, De Laurentiis also explained the reasons for such a large transfer market, in the year of Antonio Conte’s arrival: to start again, to rebuild after a difficult season. Also thinking about the facilities: “We want a new sports center, a single home for the first team and youth teams, working as we were not able to do on the territory in the first phase. We have expressed interest to the Municipality in an area already identified and which needs reclamation that we will do at our expense. An investment also in the youth team. The second element is the purchase and redevelopment of the Maradona: there is a working group within the club for the study of redevelopment of the surrounding areas as well”.