Always controversial, this is Aurelio de Laurentiis. On this occasion, the president of Napoli assured that he does not want to sign African players because of the African Cup of Nations. In addition, he criticized UEFA for “false” European competitions, such as the Conference League, and opened the door to a new continental tournament.
“I will not sign African footballers anymore . I will do it only if they give up the African Cup; because then we don’t have them available. We pay their salary so that they go to play in the middle of the championship”, said the president, two weeks after his former captain, the Senegalese Kalidou Koulibaly, signed for Chelsea.
During his Speaking on the program Wall Street Italia, the also film producer addressed different topics related to football and finance. In fact, he made it clear that he is against all UEFA tournaments, and that the top leagues in Europe need to come together to create a new competition.
We idiots lend ourselves to playing about fifty games a year. The five big leagues have to have their own tournament. Enough of these fake competitions like Champions, Europa and Conference League. We need to create competitions that are played for a week between the five best European championships”.
In That same line added: “I was against the Super League, because it was an invitation-only competition. There were privileged people who invited others. The Conference League is stupid. The young people are abandoning us because the championship is false and it is not more competitive”.
“Qatar pays the galactic salaries from PSG”
He doesn’t like the idea of the next World Cup in Qatar either 2022. He told FIFA to shoot it for November and believes it will be like having two leagues. “It is the state (Qatar) that pays PSG’s galactic salaries, because it continues to extract oil. Therefore, they had the power to postpone the World Cup to November, making life very difficult for the club: this year it will be like playing two championships”, he said.
Finally, the Italian president confessed that Napoli is “licking its wounds” because of the pandemic: “We have lost 200 millions euros ($550 million dollars) in the last two years”. However, the investment funds see the Partenopeo team as a good business opportunity; although De Laurentiis, at his 73 years of age, does not contemplate a sale.
“The funds that want to buy Naples persecute me. The Americans offered me 900 millions of euros ($915 million dollars) to sell the club in the past. But I still enjoy it and I don’t want to retire. I want to be the twelfth man on the field”, he concluded.
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