The sporting director of Napoli Giovanni Mannaspeaking from the Social Football Summit 2024, spoke thus of the Italian market and of some summer arrivals: “A footballer arrives from the Premier League and tells you that the level is high. The problem is the economic gap, their income is clearly higher and there we can’t compete. McTominay can be convinced with a bit of imagination. I’m proud of people’s enthusiasm, they make you feel part of something that needs to be managed, we don’t do anything alone. but there is a very cohesive working group. The luck of having a coach and staff of the highest level helps, this cohesion allows us to objectively do well.
Naples and South America is a historic union, there is a desire to bring players from there because it is a thriving market. The objective is to consolidate the team, then you can make the bet. I would definitely like to do something on a passionate level too. The President is working assiduously on the sports center and the new stadium, he is talking about it with the municipality and we are looking for a profitable solution for both parties. We are currently spread out, with a proprietary sports center you can do a very different job and it would be a fundamental asset.
We are behind in terms of structures compared to the other big names, when you negotiate TV rights this also has an impact. When you see the Premier League you recognize the pitch, this is a base to start from. I think that to win you have to build and know how to manage the management of victory. When you win after 33 years it’s not easy to manage the victory, even if Napoli have made an incredible journey. Maybe we needed to understand that we needed to take a different path. The coach and the sporting director have left, he has rebuilt himself and when the seasons start badly it is always complicated to straighten them out