Rafael Benítez joins with his contract as interim manager of Chelsea expiring, and replaces the outgoing Walter Mazzarri. After coaching the partenopei since 2009, Mazzarri will replace the sacked Andrea Stramaccioni at Inter Milan next season.
Rafael Benítez confirmed as new Napoli coach
After announcing it prematurely last Friday, Napoli president Aurelio Di Laurentiis has now officially confirmed Rafael Benítez is the club’s new coach.
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Napoli's notoriously crazy president Aurelio Di Laurentiis did, as promised, announce the new appointment in a tweet, writing "Rafa Benítez is the new coach of Napoli. A man of great international experience. A leader."
Benítez has some big boots to fill, taking over a club which has become synonymous with the style of Mazzarri over the past few seasons.
Mazzarri’s three-man defence will almost certainly be canned, and replaced with a much more tactically controlled approach. Hopefully that won’t see the counter-attacking delights demonstrated over the last few seasons squeezed out of the Stadio San Paolo, though signs from Benítez’s reign at Chelsea suggest Napoli’s fun factor is in danger. His only previous spell in Italy was at Inter Milan in 2010, when he failed to fill José Mourinho’s boots at the San Siro.
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